Pioneering degree course for tourism entrepreneurs

TWENTY-FIVE participants from the tourism sector have begun a new and innovative degree programme aimed at owners and managers from the industry.

The three-year course got under way yesterday at Waterford Institute of Technology and is a first for the tourism industry.

Developed by WIT with collaboration and support from Fáilte Ireland and the National Tourism Development Authority, the course is named the Fáilte Ireland BSc in Small Enterprise Management.

Fáilte Ireland’s head of business supports, Kevin Moriarty, said yesterday that the tourism industry is “critical” to the recovery of the Irish economy. He added that “Fáilte Ireland’s investment and interest in the design, development and delivery of this programme is very much in keeping with the organisation’s strategic priorities for the tourism industry, which include enhancing the effectiveness of managers in tourism and hospitality enterprises.”

He said the requirements don’t just include competence in management, finance, operations and marketing, “but also understanding of the digital and increasingly competitive environment within which Irish tourism and hospitality operations operate”.

The programme emphasises the development of skills such as critical thinking and communication, allied to exposure to specialist knowledge in business development. It will also respond to the need for the tourism entrepreneur to be able to thrive in a radically changed landscape with the power and influence of the web, changing tourist profiles, economic downturn and increased competition.

WIT’s school of business head, Dr Thomas O’Toole, said the degree programme is designed to be relevant to the commercial realities of being a tourism entrepreneur, and is using a Problem-based Learning (PBL) approach which places an emphasis on addressing and resolving realistic business situations.

“The programme is designed so that its delivery is flexible, with a limited number of structured lectures/seminars and considerable participant and lecturer engagement through an online learning environment, which meets the flexible learning needs of tourism entrepreneurs,” he said.