Destination Management Graduate Certificate

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role, the scope and the business of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) as well as convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs). The trends, issues and challenges facing DMOs and CVBs will be discussed. In addition, an analysis of the planning process in developing tourism destinations in global, community, metropolitan, urban and rural settings. Emphasis will be on stakeholder engagement, product development as well as enhancement of facilities to meet the needs of tourists.

This course focuses on the role that economics and policy play within the tourism industry. The course will focus on specific economic and policy theories that are essential for the tourism industry. Topics include an in-depth study of the theory of tourism demand and supply, using a cost-benefit analysis, tax policy impacts, tourism valuation, economic analysis in management, and marketing and policy decisions. The course provides students an environment to become proficient in collecting and understanding economic data and models, determining the value of recreational resources, and analyzing tourism related projects across the private, public, and voluntary sectors of the tourism industry.

Tourism businesses are increasingly utilizing management tools to incorporate sustainability considerations into their operations and decision-making processes. For some tourism businesses, these sustainable practices have been incorporated due to ethical considerations of society and the environment, while many are motivated due to pressures from stakeholders, regulators and customers. Many tourism businesses now recognize that incorporating sustainable practices are not only beneficial for society, but can also provide a long term competitive advantage.

This course will begin by looking at the three major areas that make up sustainability: economic sustainability, socio-cultural sustainability and environmental sustainability. Following this, students will examine how the international tourism industry affects each of these areas of sustainability and the interconnectedness of these impacts. Students will then investigate the main principles and practices for sustainable tourism development at the local, regional, national and international level. Students will be introduced to important tools and business skills for incorporating sustainable practices into tourism management and development through exposure to international case studies, as well as international standards and indicators for sustainable tourism practices.

Whether tourists are affected by terrorism, political instability, epidemics, natural disasters, building collapses, crime waves or internal problems such as service failure, it becomes the destination and tourism operator’s responsibility to respond and to do so as quickly as possible. To aid in preparation, this course will focus on crisis reduction, readiness, response and recovery efforts from both natural and human-induced disasters that affect tourism destinations and businesses. In a tourism context, risk management refers to the planning and implementation of processes directed towards managing the adverse effects of crises and disasters on tourism. It also addresses tourism’s potential opportunities for the improvement in systems and procedures. Brand credibility, as well as tourism operator and destination sustainability, relies on customer satisfaction and customer safety, and security is of paramount importance. In today’s unpredictable work, the concept of ‘risk and crisis management’ is considered an increasingly important topic for all tourism organizations to understand.