Bachelor of Arts in Tourism Management

After graduation, you'll be well prepared to take on a variety of challenges thanks to your strategic and analytical ability to handle issues methodically. You could work in a marketing department or put your speciality knowledge into practice in the hospitality world. You can use your knowledge and skills both domestically and internationally to provide your guests with the ideal experience.

Year 1

You discover the foundations of tourism and the leisure industry. You participate in projects for both Dutch and international companies and organisations. You focus on topics such as:

• Marketing
• Hostmanship (customer focus)
• Human resources
• Operational management
• Business modeling
• Value creation

At the end of the 1st year you do your first internship. You work in an organisation within the professional field. Think of a holiday park, a hotel or event organisation at home or abroad.

Destination (un)known

You also have the opportunity to organise a study trip this year to obtain free credits. Can you organise a fantastic week together with your classmates, destination (still) unknown? You organise the programme, the tickets and everything that comes with planning a trip.

Year 2

In year 2 you focus on topics such as:

• Cultural communication
• Organisation cultures
• Digital intelligence
• Company analysis
• Technological trends, e-tourism
• Destination development
• Investment analysis and experience design.

At the end of the 2nd year you do another internship. You help an organisation progress by making tactical improvements to their services. This way you can respond even more to the wishes and needs of guests. You also learn to look critically at offers, operational processes and concepts.

Destination (un)known

Also this year you have the opportunity to organise a study trip to obtain free credits. Can you organise a fantastic week together with your classmates, destination (still) unknown? You organise the programme, the tickets and everything that comes with planning a trip.

Year 3

The 3rd year you practice your research skills in preparation for your graduation assignment. Together with your project group, you carry out a project in the field of tourism and leisure for the duration of 10 weeks, going through the entire graduation process. This year you will focus on topics such as:

• Strategic management
• Commercial skills
• Responsible tourism
• Ethics

Minor

In the third year, you choose a minor: a choice package of six months. Depending on the minor you choose, you deepen your specific knowledge. You choose a minor that relates to your specialisation or to tourism in general. You can do your minor at HZ or at another university or university in the Netherlands or abroad. Almost all Tourism Management students choose to go abroad, to countries such as Norway, Austria, Canada, United States, Latvia or Thailand.

Year 4

The 4th year is all about graduating. You can personalise your graduation year with the Tourism Management programme. Do you want to continue studying and do a master's? Then you can spend a larger part of the year on your thesis and a smaller part on your management internship. If you think it is important to gain as much practical experience as possible, you choose a larger practical part and a smaller thesis part.

Accredited study programme

In the Netherlands, the standard of higher education is maintained through an accreditation system that ensures legal regulation and quality assurance. All programmes at HZ University of Applied Sciences are examined and approved by the accreditor, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). This means that they meet the quality requirements for accredited higher education set by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, ensuring that you are always choosing a programme of high standard.