Hospitality

Travel and tourism is currently the largest industry in the world: In the US alone, over 7.5 million people work within this industry, and in 2010, 60 million international visitors visited the US, spending $134billion. All of the travel and tourism industry sectors work together to cater to this growing market of visitors who impact the US economy significantly.

This course will establish a foundation for the concept of travel, tourism and hospitality as a system. Students will learn about the different segments of the travel and tourism industry, and how these are interrelated and are integral to domestic and international tourism and travel. This discussion will include tour companies, travel agencies, airlines and other sectors of transportation, cruise lines, lodging facilities and marketing companies.

IN THIS COURSE, THE STUDENT LEARNS TO:

• Explain why tourism and travel is important to the economy.
• Identify the 6 major sectors of the tourism and travel industry.
• Understand how traveler decisions are impacted by geographic principles.
• Understand different types of airline flights and aircraft, the rail-travel and the car-rental industries.
• Classify different brands and types of lodging.
• Describe the types of service available in the food-services industry.
• Describe the different types of ships, cruise lines and popular cruise destinations.
• Understand basic types of marketing.
• Understand basic types of marketing and the role of marketing organizations.
• Explain how social media and the Internet have transformed the tourism industry.

THIS COURSE REQUIRES THE STUDENT TO:

• have access to the Internet to view different travel-related Web sites and carry out research.
• have access to Microsoft® PowerPoint® or similar programs.
• be able to contact different tourism companies for projects.