Tourism Mgt & Policy (TMP)

The first segment of this course, “Defining the Travel Market,” enhances students’ understanding of concepts, tools, and techniques that are requisite in identifying local, regional, national, and global travel motivations and patterns. In the second segment, “Effective Tourism, Marketing Research,” the focus will be on marketing tools and research techniques, and their application to the travel and tourism industry. During the third segment, “Problem Solving: Building a Strategy,” students will apply the aforementioned fundamentals to identify a specific problem faced by an attraction, accommodation, or destination marketing organization (DMO). Next, each will design an effective, feasible marketing strategy to address a client’s problem.

This course examines tourism as a factor in local, regional, and national growth strategies. Students will investigate the respective roles played by public and private sectors, as they seek a balance between hosting tourism and mitigating its impact. A series of exercises will be used to prepare the class for the final project -- preparing a tourism action plan for a case study community. The focus will be on collecting, synthesizing, and apply data for the purpose of directing future development that will sustain the area’s natural and cultural environment.

This course employs a multi-disciplinary approach, addressing the key sectors and core issues impacting current hospitality business—revenue management and sustainability. The role of hospitality within the larger travel and tourism milieu, and the impact of current environmental, social, and economic trends will be addressed.

The internship is the defining experience of the certificate in Hospitality and Tourism. As is true of experiential education, the basic idea is to learn by doing. Students will receive three graduate credits for completing 120 hours of an on-site experience.

Prerequisite(s): TMP 5001, TMP 5002, TMP 5003.