MSc Tourism Marketing Management

On this conversion course you will learn the principles of tourism marketing management, providing you with a framework to understand business development and marketing planning in an increasingly fast-paced, global industry.

Delivery:
Full time according to Funding Council definitions, Part-Time, Full-time with placement

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Why study MSc Tourism Marketing Management at BU?

Study at one of the top-ten ranked universities in the world for tourism and hospitality
Develop a critical understanding of contemporary issues in marketing, question trends and explore the role of IT and social media in destination management and marketing
Examine the relationships between the customer experience and marketing organisations, research planning, budgeting, marketing strategies and communication
Choose to complete an optional 30-week work placement to further enhance your employability
Benefit from experiencing a new country and culture with the option to study a semester abroad
Learn from specialist, internationally recognised academic staff who are actively involved in research and consultancy, ensuring the curriculum is informed by cutting-edge knowledge and practice.

Find out more about the content of this course.

Course accreditations

The accrediting bodies on this course are renowned industry-wide for promoting excellence and the highest standards, all of which is reflected in the BU Business School Experience:

Recognition as an Institute of Travel & Tourism Centre of Excellence signifies BU as an industry-leading university
Accreditation by the Tourism Management Institute ensures this course meets standards aligned to the needs of the tourism sector, enhancing future employment prospects when you graduate
Being recognised as a United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO.TedQual) course provides opportunities for you to participate in tourism policy events of the highest-level, as well as obtaining placements in the most prestigious tourism organisations globally.

Discover more about the BU Business School and explore our campus

Next start date:

September 2022, January 2023, September 2023

Location:

Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Duration:

September: 1 year full-time (16 months with optional study exchange). January: 16 months full-time (18 months with optional study exchange). September & January: 2 years part-time or 2 years full-time with optional 30-week work placement

Accreditations:

United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO); Tourism Management Institute; Institute of Travel & Tourism Centre of Excellence

Required subjects:

All subjects considered

Entry requirements:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject or equivalent.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS 6.0 (Academic) with a minimum of 5.5 in each component. For more information check out our full entry requirements.

Course details

If you want to study part-time, you’ll study alongside full-time students over two years. You'll be expected to study a minimum of three units per year, along with your dissertation towards the end of your second year. The timetable for when units take place varies each year but the typical delivery for one unit is four hours a week, split between two sessions, so you will be required to be on campus at least two days a week. We can work with you to consider the timetable and make an appropriate individual plan in terms of which order to study which units.

Download the programme specification (pdf 454kb)

Core units

The Tourism & Hospitality Industries: This unit will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the operations of the tourism and hospitality industries. It includes many guest speakers from industry.
Business Strategy & Finance: This looks at the foundations of strategic analysis and choices that tie into an organisation’s business decisions. This includes private, public and third sector. You'll study the corporate finance sources of organisations, reporting and interpreting financial data. This will help you understand the dynamics of the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors.
Tourism Marketing Innovation: This unit will provide you with the academic knowledge and professional skills to study marketing innovations in the tourism and hospitality context. The emphasis is on a strategic approach and a global perspective is adopted.
eTourism & Digital Marketing: This unit explores how information technology and digital competence determines the competitiveness of tourism and hospitality organisations and destinations. This unit examines the latest developments in technological revolutions and applies them to the tourism and hospitality industries.
Destinations: Contexts for Tourism & Hospitality: Placing the tourism destination at the heart of discussion, this unit explores the physical, conceptual and administrative spaces in which tourism and hospitality activities occur, and as such provide the context for an exploration of the complex and interrelated activities of tourist activities. The unit will be international in nature, drawing on examples and practices from developed and developing nations.
Dissertation: The 15,000-word dissertation is the conclusion of your learning experience, where you’ll carry out a detailed research project into any aspect of tourism marketing of your choice.

Option units

Option units (choose one):

Air Transport & Tourism: The aim of the unit is to develop your awareness of the role of aviation management in the successful planning and development of international tourism. It will evaluate the potential barriers to continued growth and explore the conflicts and challenges of meeting both economic and environmental targets, highlighting the contribution of aviation to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
Conference Tourism: Here, you'll reflect on the conference sector's growth, and examine its present state by identifying the size, value, trends and growth of major conference destinations throughout the world. You'll also suggest how destinations and venues can develop a better conference product.
Crisis & Disaster Management: You'll develop a systematic understanding of the unique needs and critical resources that exist within key sectors and activities of Tourism, Hospitality and Events. You'll complete a number of strategic and tactical planning exercises aimed at addressing the need to integrate tourism and events within risk reduction, response and recovery strategies.
Design for Tourism & Hospitality: This unit addresses the role and significance of design in and for the tourism and hospitality industries at the level of individual businesses and organisations or sites and events. It considers the design of tangible and intangible objects or ‘things’ such as buildings (exteriors and interiors), maps and guides, souvenirs, live events, corporate identities, business processes, and servicescapes
Entrepreneurship: The process of creating a new entrepreneurial venture, and funding sources for new and upcoming entrepreneurs. There's a focus on identifying and evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurial development may cover a single entity, a further investment by a portfolio entrepreneur, a management buy-out, a spin out or a venture in an existing organisation.
Food Design & Marketing: This unit focuses on food in terms of its aesthetics, the processes and tools used, and the spaces where food is prepared, distributed and consumed, and how these are promoted and communicated to the consumers.
Global Food & Drink: The unit will provide an in-depth analysis of the role of food and drink in the international hospitality, tourism, retail and events business environment. An understanding of the nature of our relationship with food socially, economically, politically, environmentally and in terms of technology is a valuable addition to other strategic and operational areas of expertise.
Tourism Management & the Natural Environment: This unit focuses on the complex relationships between the tourism industry and the natural environment, and the ways in which tourism can be managed to ensure that it contributes to biodiversity and conservation.

Please note that option units require minimum numbers in order to run and may only be available on a semester by semester basis. They may also change from year to year.

Optional work placement

The placement is intended to foster personal and professional development, and to help you to make a connection between academic learning and the working world. You should consider how a range of management theories can be used, and if management in industry could be improved. The transferable skills developed will improve your performance in your future career, both as employee and manager.

You will complete semester one and two of your programme as well as completing your final disseration at BU, before you undertake the 30 weeks of work experience.

Optional study abroad

Studying abroad is an incredible opportunity to experience a new country and culture while continuing your degree. If you choose the study abroad option, you will complete a semester (around 3 months) overseas at one of our partner institutions.

If you start your course in September, you will complete semester one and two at BU then finish for the summer break. You will start the study abroad option in September of your second year, at the same time as completing your dissertation and complete the course in January of the second year.

If you start your course in January, you will complete semester one, break for summer and then complete semester two at BU. You will start the study abroad option in January of your second year, at the same time as completing your dissertation and complete the course in July of the second year.

You can choose to study abroad or take the optional work placement but not both.

Find out more about studying abroad.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Rankings

2nd

BU is second in the UK for hospitality and tourism management according to the Shanghai Rankings of Academic Subjects 2021

Top 20

We are in the top 20 universities in the world for hospitality and leisure management – QS University Rankings 2022

Placements

An exciting and valuable part of your studies with us is the opportunity to gain valuable experience through full-time paid industrial placements, for a minimum of 30 weeks. You will have the option to start your placement when the taught part of the programme finishes, usually in April (for September students) and in August (for January students).

Find out more about postgraduate placements

What job roles can you expect?

What support is available?

We provide a lot of support for you to help you find work, including a block of seminars, covering topics such as writing a CV and a covering letter, completing an application form, performing well in interviews, and we also provide language support to assist you with the written elements of your applications.

However, it is ultimately your responsibility to find work. The university does not guarantee that you will find a place. As you all probably know, it is hard work finding a job, and for this reason, many students change their mind once they are here, and choose a taught unit instead of doing the placement.

During your time on placement you will be supported by a unit tutor and a placement development advisor who will visit you on placement and keep in touch by phone and email.

International students

If you choose to do a placement as part of your course:

If you have previously studied in the UK, we will consider any study limit that may apply. We will issue your CAS according to the length of time you are entitled to under UKVI regulations (if you do not have enough time left for a work placement year, we will issue your CAS to cover your course dates only).
If you decide after you have enrolled on your course that you do not want to do a placement, this will be reported to the UKVI when you have successfully completed your course.

If you choose not to do a placement as part of your course:

We will note this on your CAS and your visa will only be granted long enough to cover your taught course, excluding placement.
If you change your mind while you are here and decide you want to do a placement, you will need to leave the UK to make a new Tier 4 visa application for the additional year of study. You would need to pay for your return travel back to your home country, as well as the cost of a new Tier 4 student visa application.

Your application

This course will be suited to applicants who:

Are creative and enthusiastic
Are able to work to tight and competing deadlines
Are able to work independently as well as enjoy working with other people
Can adapt to working with students from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds.

How to apply

What we’re looking for

You should have a strong interest and passion for extending your skills and knowledge relating to tourism management and marketing, especially during the final stage of the course when you must research one topic of interest and write a dissertation on this subject.

Though you must be able to work alone, you must also have the social skills required to interact with others, as the course requires you to do group work. You should also have cultural flexibility as you will meet other students from a diverse range of cultures.

Selection methods

How and when to apply

There is no application deadline for this course. However, if you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course.

December and January is one of our busiest application periods and therefore it may take us a little longer to process incoming applications. For courses with a January start date, we recommend submitting your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in any subject or equivalent.

If you lack the formal academic qualifications needed to enter a postgraduate or post-experience degree, there are several alternative routes to follow - some based on experience. Contact the Future Students Enquiry Team for more information.

International entry requirements

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 55%
Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:2
Thailand: Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 2.5/4.0
Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.3/4.0
Vietnam: Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 6.5/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with minimum 5.5 in each component, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

Careers

This course provides you with the opportunity to become immersed in the Bournemouth University Business School and gives you a unique opportunity to mix with a diverse range of nationalities. This will increase your intercultural competence, which is vital preparation for working in a mixed-nationality workforce or dealing with a mixed-nationality clientele.

Potential graduate job roles

Some of our Tourism Marketing Management graduates are now undertaking roles in:

Senior management
Marketing
Destination management
International airlines
Tour operation companies.

As you progress through the course you will gain a better idea of the areas in which you want to specialise in your career. The skills you learn should stand you in good stead for your continuing professional development too – giving you more control over your future career direction.

Industries worked in

Further study

Costs and fees

You can find full information about the deposits required and how to pay your fees in our postgraduate fees and funding section, including details of the Postgraduate Loan (subject to fee status).

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per annum. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

Find out more about living expenses for postgraduate students

No hidden extras

What's included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement if this is part of your course of study.
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service.
Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, intregrated social media and advanced video features.
The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces.
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow.
Disability and additional learning support.
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills.
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses.
Accommodation and living costs. Please visit our website for more information.
Travel costs, for optional field trips, outdoor wear and footwear for mandatory and optional field trips (if applicable).
Travel costs to and from the University campus. An annual bus pass is included in your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchases separately.
Travel costs to and from your placement (both in the UK and overseas) if this is part of your course of study. Placement year funding can be found on our website.
Clothing or equipment costs required for your placement if this is part of your course of study.
SportsBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

Repeat units

Deposits

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable £3,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. You may also benefit from guest lectures from industry, including our alumni.

You can find out more about some of the staff that are currently teaching on the course and their research activities below. Please note that teaching staff can change.

Dr Sean Beer – Senior Academic

Sean is a Senior Lecturer with a passionate interest in the interaction between tourism, culture, food, the countryside and the food supply chain. Originally he trained as an Agricultural Scientist gaining a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture from Reading, a DipAgSci from Massey University in New Zealand, a CertEd from Wolverhampton and a PGDip in Research Degree Supervision from Bournemouth. More recently, Sean has been working in the social sciences and have just completed a PhD based on a thesis examining perceptions of the authenticity of food.

This academic work has been backed up with considerable practical experience in agriculture, marketing, the food supply chain and the rural economy in general, gained on the family farm and within associated family businesses and the food industry, local and international. Sean is currently a Senior Academic in the Business School, Department of Tourism and Hospitality, and his role involves teaching, consultancy, research, publication and broadcasting. His principal research interests include the food supply chain, consumer behaviour, rural business, society and development.

Sean was awarded a Rotary Foundation Scholarship, a Winston Churchill Fellowship, and is also a Nuffield Scholar. Sean is a regular commentator on rural and environmental matters on the radio and television and is active in the community. He has also recently finished three years as a member of Countryfile Magazine Editorial Review Board.

View Dr Sean Beer’s staff profile

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis – Professor of Tourism

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Technology and Tourism. He is currently Established Chair in Tourism and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) at the School of Services Management at Bournemouth University and Professorial Observer at the Bournemouth University Senate. In April 2010 he was promoted to Professor 2 (or what is called a Distinguished Professor in other Universities), a level reserved for a small percentage of elite academicians.

Professor Buhalis is leading eTourism research and is working with the Bournemouth team for introducing technology in all aspects of tourism research and teaching. In 2009 he led Bournemouth University successfully through the UNWTO.TedQual Certification Process and is the BU representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. In August 2009, Dimitrios was elected, as a Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, in recognition of his contribution to tourism research. He was also elected as President of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT) for the period 2010-2014. Dimitrios always enjoys going to the lab and works closely with many tourism and hospitality organisations and destinations around the world.

View Professor Dimitrios Buhalis’ staff profile

Professor Adele Ladkin – Professor of Tourism Employment

Adele is a Professor of Tourism Employment at Bournemouth University. She was educated at Leicester University in Human Geography, receiving her PhD in Tourism Human Resources Management from the University of Surrey in 1995.

Adele’s research interests are the labour, employment, and human resource aspects of tourism and hospitality. She is also interested in the technological affordances for the tourism experience, in particular the practices of ICT use in leisure and business tourism, and how digital developments shape future travel experiences.

She has worked extensively with international postgraduate students in the UK and Hong Kong as part of MSc and PhD programmes. In 2015 she was awarded the Silver ‘Your Brilliant” Award from Bournemouth University Student Union in the category of “Most Brilliant support for International Students’.

View Professor Adele Ladkin’s staff profile

Jeff Sadd – Lecturer

Jeff Sadd is a lecturer in finance across many programmes within the Bournemouth University Business School. His professional career background was in the International Capital Markets, specialising in Derivative Risk Management, working both in London and New York, where he was a Director of Derivative Trading and Management for a major U.K. bank.

View Professor Jeff Sadd’s staff profile

Dr Daisy Fan - Principal Academic

Dr Svetla Stoyanova-Bozhkova - Deputy Head of Department

Dr Svetla Stoyanova-Bozhkova is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in the Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Industries. She is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, Chartered Manager, CMI mentor and external examiner. Svetla holds a doctoral degree from Bournemouth University and a master’s degree from the University of Birmingham, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.

Svetla is teaching Strategic Management, Research Methods, Marketing and Business Communications. Her teaching experience in the UK and abroad is complemented by a 20-year experience at senior management positions in the industry and academia. Svetla has a wide range of academic and research interests including economic development, sustainability, destination management, customer experience management and cross-cultural issues.

View Dr Svetla Stoyanova-Bozhkova's staff profile

Dr Tim Gale - Principal Academic

Tim joined Bournemouth University in June 2015 as Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management. He completed a PhD at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), successfully defending his thesis on the decline and restructuring of British seaside resorts in 2002.

His research interests have since expanded to include new tourism spaces, places and experiences (such as urban beaches, virtual worlds and immersive events and performances), and tourism education/ pedagogy. These interests are underpinned by ideas associated with the ‘new mobilities paradigm’ and critical realism as a philosophy of/ for the social sciences. He has written several refereed journal articles, book chapters and other works, from positioning papers and literature reviews to multi-method empirical studies incorporating questionnaire surveys and interviews, document analyses and visual methods, and has co-edited three books to date.

Tim’s involvement with the design, data capture and analysis for surveys of visitors to Bristol Urban Beach and the 2010 Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Races illustrates the potential in much of his work for industry engagement and impact. Tim teaches/ has taught a range of units at undergraduate and postgraduate levels on tourism geographies, event management, marketing and research methods. He has supervised two PhD students to completion and examined several others.

View Dr Tim Gale's staff profile

Course changes

Changes for 2021

Date	Changes to this course
17/05/2021	Where the change was made: Course details Change: Programme restructure, completion of dissertation before optional placement year.

Changes in 2019

Date	Changes to this course
21/11/2019	Where the change was made: Course details Change: Removal of units Tourism & the Media and Tourism, Culture & Society Previous text: Tourism & the Media: This unit will develop your ability to critique and apply media theories, practices and discourses in relation to tourism. Tourism Culture & Society: The unit explores the principles, concepts and practices of tourism from the perspective of social science and cultural studies theories. More specifically, the unit discusses the contributions of social science disciplines in understanding the multiple dimensions and manifestations of tourism globally.

Date

Changes to this course

21/11/2019

Where the change was made: Course details
Change: Removal of units Tourism & the Media and Tourism, Culture & Society
Previous text:

Tourism & the Media: This unit will develop your ability to critique and apply media theories, practices and discourses in relation to tourism.

Tourism Culture & Society: The unit explores the principles, concepts and practices of tourism from the perspective of social science and cultural studies theories. More specifically, the unit discusses the contributions of social science disciplines in understanding the multiple dimensions and manifestations of tourism globally.

Statistics shown throughout this page are taken from Unistats and BU institutional data unless otherwise stated.