Course Description and Student Experience

Provides the landscape view that situates how tourism, conservation, and natural resource management come together. Examine the history of public lands and protected areas around the world. Explore the evolution of the relationship between tourism and conservation, and the way in which different international agreements on biodiversity and climate change affect tourism and conservation. 

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Develop an informational background on tourism and conservation and NRRT 609. Students will be introduced to the aims and objectives of three international organizations: IUCN, LT&C, GSTC.
2. Understand the relationships of financial contributions and strategies from tourism to conservation and protected areas. Students will be introduced to international case studies and the aims and objectives of the international organization World Economic Forum on Sustainable Tourism.
3. Understand training and education approaches that facilitate tourism that supports conservation. Students will be introduced to three international case studies and the aims and objectives of the international organization UNESCO: United Nations Education and Scientific Cultural Organization.
4. Develop an international overview of governance, political influence and adaptive management that supports tourism and conservation. Students will be introduced to three international case studies and the aims and objectives of the international organization WTTC.
5. Explain wildlife equity and how tourism relates to wildlife conservation. Students will be introduced to three international case studies and the aims and objectives of the international organization WWF.
6. Understand the relationship between issues of Capacity Building, (including JEDI, Environmental Intersectionality) with tourism and conservation: Students will be introduced to three international case studies and the aims and objectives of the international organization UN Tourism (formally UNWTO).
7. Reflect on their course learning and engage in this overview by watching a guest lecture regarding tourism and conservation. Students will also work to finalize and submit their final project proposals via an online questionnaire.
8. Have the unique opportunity to view and discuss their cohorts’ international project proposal. After completing their final project proposals they will view and discuss their classmates tourism and conservation projects within the student gallery. This is intended as a final reflection so that students can review the tourism and conservation strategies they have learned throughout the course.

Course Description and Student Experience 

Investigate the importance of spending time and travelling outdoors in nature for human well-being. Examine the scientifically proven physical, cognitive, emotional, and social benefits that result from time spent in nature, and how these are achieved through tourism. Immersion in nature is linked to positive conservation outcomes. Examine the role of nature and wellness in achieving tourism and conservation outcomes.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Explain multiple ways of conceptualizing and defining human well-being.
2. Describe and discuss the physical well-being benefits of nature immersion and the types of tourism and outdoor recreation activities and strategies that lead to such benefits.
3. Describe and discuss the emotional and cognitive benefits of nature immersion for human well-being and the types of tourism and outdoor recreation activities and strategies that lead to such benefits.
4. Describe and discuss the social benefits of nature immersion for human well-being and the types of tourism and outdoor recreation activities that lead to such benefits.
5. Evaluate and design tourism and outdoor recreation programs that promote human wellbeing.
6. Critically discuss the connection between nature and human well-being in the context of tourism and conservation using an environmental justice lens.
7. Describe and discuss the critical role that the connection between nature and human well-being can play in building a societal level conservation ethic.
8. Use community-building skills to support an inclusive and collaborative learning environment.

Course Description and Student Experience

This course is designed to provide an understanding of the concept of sustainable tourism development. Theory, practice, history, terminology and issues in sustainable tourism planning and management are examined in the context of sustainable livelihoods and conservation. A comprehensive survey of sustainable tourism components – including poverty alleviation through tourism, natural resources as attractions and destinations, social and resource responsibility, establishing policies, and principles for sustainability – will be covered from a systems thinking perspective.

Student assessment will take the form of discussion posts and responses, personal journal, two mini-papers, and a single course case study project requiring application to real world examples of materials presented in the course.

Course modules will be available through Canvas with each module being posted prior to the start of that module’s scheduled week. This “gating” is intended to keep the cohort together in terms of material presented so that discussion assignments can be completed with the maximum amount of student interaction.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Synthesize the definitions, terminology and concepts of sustainable tourism and how it relates to tourism, livelihoods, and community development via course journals, mini-papers and online discussions.
2. Understand the history and development of sustainable tourism development.
3. Identify impacts associated with tourism development and apply intervention strategies to mediate the impacts identified.
4. Learn, apply and discuss ethics (codes of conduct, compliance and eco-labeling) in sustainable tourism for policy development.

Course Description and Student Experience

This course will focus on enhancing student understanding of concepts in management applied to a travel and tourism organization. The course begins with an introduction to management, the management process and a discussion of the personal characteristics that make an effective manager. Following this, course topics include the managing ethics, diversity, and globalization; planning, decision-making, and competitive advantage; designing organizational structure and managing for change; leading individuals and groups, and controlling activities and processes such as communication and information technology and operations.  A predominant characteristic of this class (and the MTM program as a whole) is that discussions, exercises, and case studies will require students to think about the application of management principles and concepts to the management of travel and tourism organizations.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Discuss what management is within the context of travel and tourism industry sectors.
2. Describe how personality traits and psychological characteristics influence a manager’s behavior and impact the organizational culture of a travel and tourism organization.
3. Explain what it means to effectively manage diversity in a travel and tourism setting.
4. Describe the steps of the planning process and explain the relationship between planning and strategy.
5. Describe the types of organizational structures that are appropriate in a tourism setting.
6. Describe how motivation theories can be applied to maximize employee productivity, retention, professional development, and satisfaction.
7. Explain leadership attributes that most contribute to the effectiveness of tourism managers.
8. Explain why groups and teams are key contributors to the effectiveness of tourism organizations.
9. Describe how tourism managers can encourage/facilitate collaborative decision-making.
10. Explain how human resource management helps gain competitive advantage.
11. Describe the functions of human resource management within the context of a tourism organization.
12. Explain how operations management ensures a high-quality tourism experience.

Course Description and Student Experience

Communication has many roles in tourism management, from the most obvious: communicating with current and potential visitors; to more subtle applications such as internal and external stakeholder communication, conflict and change management. This course offers a review of current theoretical approaches to communication study, as well as practical application of communication techniques relevant to tourism management.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Develop an understanding of current communication theory and the application of theory in the study of tourism communication.
2. Understand the varied roles of communication in tourism management and the techniques available to tourism managers.
3. Understand and apply strategic communication planning principles and situation assessment techniques in the tourism management context.
4. Understand potential consequences of making organizational communication choices and employing different conflict management and stakeholder engagement strategies.
5. Develop the ability to communicate change and apply organizational communication strategies in the context of tourism industry practice.
6. Understand how oral and written communication functions in tourism organizations and develop skills in analyzing situations, synthesizing the course information and utilizing the knowledge for effective communication and conflict management in a tourism organizations.

Course Description and Student Experience

NRRT650, Financial Management in Tourism, focuses on enhancing the student’s understanding of key concepts of finance as they relate to managing a travel and tourism business.  While many of the concepts covered in this course are applicable to those students who find themselves working for large corporations, the content also applies for those students working in or starting smaller entrepreneurial tourism enterprises.  Discussions, applications, and case studies will enable students to apply concepts specifically to businesses within the travel and tourism industry.  Section 1 of the course introduces students to the financial accounting aspect of finance, including an introduction to the development, interpretation, and analysis of financial statements; analysis of profit, profitability, and breakeven, as well as forecasting and budgeting. Section 2 addresses management accounting aspects of finance; including working capital management, time value of money and capital budgeting.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the nature of financial statements used by travel and tourism businesses.
2. Apply techniques for the analysis of financial statements for a travel and tourism business and organization.
3. Distinguish between profit and profitability.
4. Analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of a travel and tourism business and organization.
5. Describe the steps in selecting, evaluating, and applying financial forecasting models.
6. Describe a travel and tourism business’s revenue base, sales forecasts, assets, and a need for financing.
7. Apply methods of dealing with current asset management and current liability management.
8. Calculate and apply future and present value of lump sums used to solve time-value-of-money problems.
9. Calculate and apply future- and present-value annuities used to solve time-value-of-money problems.
10. Describe the purpose, need, and implications for making appropriate capital budgeting decisions.
11. Describe and apply the steps required in making a capital budgeting decision.

Course Description and Student Experience

NRRT671, Strategic Management for Travel and Tourism focuses on enhancing student’s understanding of the concepts underlying the strategic management of a travel and tourism business. The first section of the course introduces the strategic process as well as conducting an internal analysis of factors within the travel and tourism organization. The second section discusses the external analysis of the organization, with a specific focus on both the macro‐ context and micro‐context (i.e., the competitive environment) of the external environment of the organization. Combination of these two sections results in the development of an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to the organization (SWOT). Section three examines strategic choice and strategy implementation for a travel and tourism organization. This includes discussions of competitive strategy and directions, methods of development for travel and tourism, evaluation, selection, and implementation of strategic choices. The section also addresses international and global strategies for travel and tourism organizations.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Describe the strategic process as it applies to travel and tourism organizations and the industry.
2. Articulate the fundamental components of an internal analysis of a travel and tourism organization.
3. Present the role and application of conducting an internal analysis of the travel and tourism organization.
4. List the fundamental components of an external analysis of a travel and tourism organization.
5. Explain the role and application of conducting an external analysis of a travel and tourism organization.
6. Apply the internal and external analyses to the development of an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the organization (SWOT analysis).
7. State development, evaluation, and selection of strategic choices for a travel and tourism organization.
8. Explain the process of strategy implementation for a travel and tourism organization.
9. Recognize the nature of the internationalization and globalization of the tourism industry.

Course Description and Student Experience

Applies project management knowledge and skills to the planning of tourism events. Event planning, logistics, and management best practices are discussed within the context of leisure, cultural, sporting, lifestyle and business meetings and events.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Study events, event management, and the event process from start to end of an event, including programming, venue management, logistics, entertainment, and budgeting.
2. Develop an event template for a local nonprofit to add to their professional portfolio.
3. Examine the main theories of project management and apply those theories to event management.

Course Description and Student Experience

Introduction to the fundamentals of leadership theory and different leadership styles. Apply this knowledge at an individual, organizational, and community level within a tourism context. The role of leadership in service excellence, crisis and change management, and sustainability is examined, with a focus on providing the necessary skills to develop resilient tourism industry leaders.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Reflect on personal qualities and interests and propose new vision, goals, actions, and resources for inspiring positive personal and/or societal change.
2. Identify core leadership traits associated with leading other people.
3. Assess core leadership considerations for “getting past no” in personal, professional, and tourism management contexts.
4. Differentiate between “eco” and “ego” leadership and apply principles exemplifying eco leadership for tourism management.
5. Apply Theory of Change concepts to plan, lead, and communicate positive change for personal and tourism development.
6. Assess a tourism business or destination and propose new vision, goals, actions, and resources for the purpose of inspiring it toward positive change.
7. Be familiar with international tourism and cultural resources (e.g., Netherlands 2030, U.S.-Saudi Arabia trade, Hofstede’s national cultures) to lead tourism businesses and destinations toward positive change in an increasingly global society.
8. Create a short video in which they communicate their personal life mission, values, personal/professional goals (short and long-term), and steps for achieving them.

Course Description and Student Experience

This is two-course series (A/B). Series A is required of all Master of Tourism Management (MTM) graduate students. This one-credit seminar examines professional development and career preparation within the tourism industry. Students will apply an enhanced sense of self-awareness to their career, network and engage with tourism industry professionals, observe guest speaker interviews from professionals in the field, visit tourism sites, develop a resume, cover letter, and a professional digital presence, and craft a career preparation plan.

Series B is structured around the adult pedagogical framework that facilitates student development as a Critical Tourism Citizen (see Boluk, Cavaliere and Duffy, 2019). This course also examines the relationship between various information sources and current issues in nature-based tourism. In addition, this course will prepare students to conduct basic content analysis and research for the professional world. Content research is required in non-profit, private, academic, governance and multilateral sectors and is an important way to communicate tourism trends and impacts. A very important goal of this course is to help students gain an understanding of developing their critical thinking skills, which is deemed the most important skill by employers. By developing and applying a critical thinking lens to current issues in nature-based tourism, students will learn to see that communication forms and validity changes between information sources. Students will also have the opportunity to refine their public presentation skills.

Course Objectives (Series A)

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Examine the term “networking” and reflect on what this means to you.
2. Cultivate relationships with tourism industry professionals and peers.
3. Practice your networking, relationship building, and communication skills.

Course Objectives (Series B)

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Approach the applied and academic research process in tourism.
2. Identify different credible information sources of current topics in nature-based tourism to combat greenwashing and empower the learner for internalizing critical thinking skills.
3. Apply critical lens regarding current events in nature-based tourism (analyze any topic from a critical perspective to understand issues and impacts in tourism: gender, positions of power, issues of diversity/equity/inclusion, tourism impacts especially on marginalized groups; issues of access to natural and cultural resources; ownership and decision-making processes).
4. Showcase professional presentation skills that incorporate complex critical analysis of cutting-edge topics.
5. Develop a knowledge base in APA referencing and building a topical focused annotated bibliography.
6. Prepare future research questions regarding current events in nature-based tourism.