MSc International Hospitality, Events and Tourism Management

The following compulsory modules enable you to develop a deep understanding of the complexity of international hospitality, events and tourism management.

Hospitality, Tourism and Events Synthesis: You will be given an overview of the context, frameworks, concepts, theories and issues in the tourism, events and hospitality industries. You will learn to analyse and evaluate complex tourism, events and hospitality situations.

Tourist Consumer Behaviour and Marketing: You will explore the theoretical frameworks which underpin patterns of consumer demand. Effective and creative marketing is based on sound analysis and is relevant to the complete range of hospitality, events and tourism sectors. You will be taught models and concepts drawn from mainstream marketing, tourism marketing and the social sciences, so that you develop a comprehensive understanding of tourist consumer behaviour and the tourist decision-making process.

Hospitality Operations Management: You will be introduced to hospitality operations within an international context. Drawing on relevant management principles, you will develop an understanding of financial, human resource and marketing management knowledge at the unit level, which underpins the successful management of hospitality, events and tourism companies. You will take part in a computer based hotel business simulation assignment.

Contemporary Issues in International Hospitality, Events and Tourism: You will identify a reseaerch topic from a wide range of areas including: accounting, branding, climate change, digital marketing, entrepreneurship, environmental issues, events, finance, human resources, marketing, risk management, revenue management, social media, and tourist consumer behaviour - as applied to the international hospitality, events and tourism industries. You will research your chosen subject area, critically analyse the literature and theory, and write an article suitable for publication in an academic journal. You will work on your own with the support of a specialist tutor.

Research Methods: You will be introduced to approaches, methodologies and resources available to improve your researching capabilities. You will design the methodology for a research project that helps you understand how to collect and analyse the data required when writing your dissertation.

Dissertation: This is an opportunity for you to investigate a topic in depth from multiple perspectives, working independently and supervised by a specialist tutor. You choose the hospitality, events or tourism management topic which you wish to study. This can be the same topic as in your Contemporary Issues module or a different subject area.

Writing the dissertation, will develop your ability to critically review literature, identify the gaps in current knowledge and practise relevant research skills to facilitate data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation.

Mentoring and Leadership Development: You will develop an in-depth understanding of leadership theory and practice. Your understanding of leadership theory will develop by engaging with contemporary debates on leadership in the hospitality, events and tourism industries, with a particular focus on ethical leadership. You will develop your professional competences and understanding of leadership practice through participation in the school’s Bacchus Mentoring Programme. This programme gives you one-to-one support from a mentor from the international hospitality, events or tourism industry.

Elective modules

You can choose one elective module from the following:

Tourism Digital Distribution Strategies: The main aim of this module is to enable you to critically evaluate current and emerging developments in electronic distribution systems. You will explore the impact of global distribution systems and social media from both a consumer and an organisational perspective.

Events: In this module you will explore the complex relationships between events, groups and individuals drawing from the concepts and methods in various social sciences. The module focuses on three themes: 1) the social and cultural contexts in which events take place; 2) the various stakeholders who affect and are affected by events; and 3) the social, cultural, environmental, economic and political impacts of events for states, regions, organisations, groups and individuals.

Intercultural Leadership: This module aims to enable you to develop your intercultural management and leadership competences for the international hospitality, events and tourism industries. You will learn how to manage your own development - taking part in cross-cultural experiential activities, reflecting on those activities, developing theoretical understanding, and planning for future actions as an industry leader.

Revenue Management: This module introduces you to key concepts within Revenue Management such as capacity management, dynamic pricing and creative product development. To fully understand how to apply revenue management within hospitality and tourism businesses, you need to be aware of elements which influence customer purchase decisions and to evaluate the complex relationship between price, cost, volume and profit. Other electives may also be available.

Tourism Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Tourism innovation and entrepreneurship are fundamental to the development of tourism products and services that contribute to sustainable local, regional and national development strategies. You will consider the process of innovation, including the role of key tourism stakeholders such as government, the private sector, NGOs and local communities.

If you decide to take the sandwich mode your year of full-time taught study will be followed by one year of full-time, supervised work experience. The time on supervised work experience is paid and spent with a suitable international hospitality and tourism employer. You carry out an assessed project for the company as part of your academic studies on the placement.