ObjectivesTourism is now one of the world's biggest industries. Indeed, there were some 703 million international tourist arrivals in 2002 alone, generating approximately US $474 billion in receipts (around £250 billion). This diverse industry needs well-qualified managers with a broad and deep understanding of conceptual and applied issues in tourism and its management. Managers must also have a range of skills including communication, critical thinking and problem solving. This course aims to meet these needs by integrating business and management education with the study of tourism from a social science perspective. The aim is to develop managers as 'informed practitioners'. Graduates should be well placed to secure a managerial position with a variety of organisations, from transnational corporations, such as the leading tour operators and hotel chains, to small and medium sized enterprises and public authorities. This course will help you develop skills and knowledge which can be applied in a range of international contexts. It may therefore be suitable for international students, and there are opportunities for incorporating material and examples from your home country into your studies, especially in the dissertation.
Entry requirementsThe standard minimum entry requirement is a second class honours degree or equivalent. We welcome applications from students without the conventional entrance requirements but who do have substantial relevant work or other experience and whose motivation and skills would enable them to succeed on the course. International applicants (non UK and EU) should aim to apply by the end of June to allow time to arrange their accommodation, finance and visa.
The course is based in the Faculty of the Built Environment, and run in partnership with the Bristol Business School. It consists of eight taught modules (which make up the Postgraduate Diploma) which include three specialist tourism modules, four general management modules and one research module:
Tourism Concepts and Issues
This module aims to expose students to essential knowledge at the forefront of the subject area (pertaining to the meaning and significance of tourism, the internationalisation of tourism, tourism principals and intermediaries, tourist motivations and behaviour and tourism destinations), and engage them with various contemporary issues of relevance and significance (eg health and safety in tourism, tourism and ethics, and the role of new information and communications technologies in the production and distribution of tourism products).
Tourism Policy and Planning
This module aims to enable students to understand the process of tourism development and the planning and management interventions that seek to influence such development, especially in relation to less economically developed countries.
Sustainable Tourism: Principles and Practice
This module adopts a critical and inter-disciplinary social science perspective to the study of the principles and practices of sustainable tourism within the wider context of sustainable development.
Research for Policy and Practice
This module considers the leading philosophical perspectives associated with the production of knowledge; questions and debates related to the nature, function and conduct of research; main types of research strategy employed in built and natural environment research in general, and in particular disciplines within this area; criteria used when assessing the claims of others, ethical and legal issues in research; and the process of planning and designing research (including research briefs, proposals, strategies, methods of data generation and analysis, literature reviews, etc).
You will also complete four modules offered by the Bristol Business School:
-Marketing and Customer Management
-Organisational Analysis and Change
-Finance for Managers
-Strategic Management
Students wishing to complete the full Master's must submit a dissertation of 16,000-20,000 words.
The modules are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, so their titles and content may be amended periodically, although the overall aims of the course will remain the same.
Teaching, learning and assessment methods
Modules are generally structured around a series of keynote lectures, supported by a wide range of participative activities (such as case studies and group discussions) designed to facilitate the development of independent learning strategies. Learning also takes place in the field and online.
Methods of assessment vary between modules, but typically comprise essays, reports and presentations.
The course is underpinned by the research interests of staff within the Geography Research Unit. These include: changing spatial patterns of tourism at the coast and their causes; critical theory in tourism and leisure; ecotourism in marine and rainforest environments; mobility, migration and new forms of tourism experience; and tourism's contribution to social inclusion/exclusion.
Students will also benefit from the Bristol Group for Tourism Research (BGTR), a forum that seeks to support and develop high quality research and postgraduate training in the subject area. Each academic year, the BGTR organises a seminar series where various external and internal speakers share their latest research findings, to which all students are invited. Prospective students and alumni are also welcome - please contact us for details. Outside of the tourism sphere there are clusters of research expertise in business and management, and accounting and finance.
The Graduate School
The Faculty's Graduate School was established in 2005. Its main purpose is to foster an active graduate community, encompassing students on postgraduate taught courses and students undertaking research degrees. There are currently around 700 postgraduate students (400 attending and 300 distance learning) on taught courses, and about 40 postgraduate research students. The Graduate School has dedicated space in the Faculty's building on the main campus, with teaching accommodation, a kitchen and informal areas. The work of the Graduate School is based on the Faculty's extensive research programmes, and on the innovativeness and high quality of its teaching. Student advisers for all postgraduate courses are located in the Graduate School Office, and they are your first point of contact if you have any problems or need information. The Student Handbook is also an essential source of information.
You may also use the well equipped laboratories for concrete and environmental services, environmental physics, earth sciences, spatial analysis (including mapping and Geographical Information Systems) and surveying technology, each with specialist technicians supporting both teaching and research. An audio-visual group provides support for photography, digital imaging, filming and sound recording.
The Faculty has invested in online and offline computer-based resources to support modules, and especially those offered by distance learning. You also have access to a vast number of journals and databases online through the Bristol UWE library. The library and some computer labs on campus are open 24 hours, and the Faculty's suite of computer rooms supports software for word processing, data analysis, spatial analysis, computer aided design and other specialist software required by our students.
The full-time course involves attending for 20 two-day blocks over one year, with additional academic support sessions available in between, and the part-time course involves attending for 20 two-day blocks over two years