The mission of the Tourism Studies program is to provide a nationally and internationally recognized program of excellence in teaching, research, and service in leisure, specifically in the areas of tourism, heritage, cultural tourism and tourism planning and management. This program aims to educate, train and assist students, individuals, businesses, and other stakeholders to take full use of the opportunities available through the use of responsible tourism development. This program philosophy is driven by the belief that tourism can be a powerful driver for economic development in many emerging and transitioning economies, and can also fulfill a significant role in a community social-cultural development, congruent with the cultural norms and values of the multicultural populations of the UAE.

Program Objectives

• Basic knowledge of different components and sectors in the tourism industry.
• Competence to address and provide critical insights of the interrelationship between stakeholders, components and sectors in the tourism industry.
• Solid knowledge about planning, managing, operating and promoting cultural, heritage, environmental and leisure tourism resources and products.
• Practical knowledge of planning, developing, managing, operating and promoting sustainable destinations.
• Ability to conduct research with the focus on the relationships between tourism, culture, heritage and sustainable development.
• Communication skills, managerial skills and analytical skills, to enter the junior management level of different sectors in the tourism industry.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Identify the facilities, resources, products, stakeholders and operational organizations in different sectors of the tourism industry as well as describe their structures and characteristics.
• Demonstrate ethical reasoning in relation to tourism issues.
• Identify the necessary resources of developing tourism products and analyze the factors affecting the successfulness of tourism products.
• Analyze the current and upcoming trends of the tourism product development in the local, regional and international level.
• Identify the influence of tourists and the tourism industry on cultural and heritage assets, societies and environments.
• Synthesize the cultural, heritage, environmental and leisure tourism resources and facilities for sustainable development of a destination.
• Examine materials, reports and statistics related to tourism, cultural and heritage study and sustainable development.
• Communicate effectively in both oral and written form to various audience.