Tourism Studies
What is Tourism Studies?
Tourism could roughly be defined as everything that involves service delivery to tourists, in other words, all aspects related to their activities. This means that the act of travelling and/or using accommodation other than your own is seen as tourism, whether this is for business, leisure or other purposes. An important aspect of tourism that is very often overlooked is that tourism is not only focused on foreign visitors who come to visit our beautiful country. South Africans also travel all over our country to explore our natural resources and visit monuments, and they too are tourists when they visit places they've never been to before.
Tourism studies would therefore involve things like customer service and the ability to adapt to people's changing needs. When you're working in the tourism industry, you need to be organised and creative at the same time. You are rendering a service to people who want to experience something new - mostly for recreational purposes - and your job is to leave them with a great impression of that town, hotel, restaurant, B&B, shop, attraction, or whatever it is they came to experience.
Why should I study Tourism Studies?
Tourism is a growing industry in South Africa and a very exciting field where you get to meet many people from different walks of life. This industry offers career opportunities for all personality types, and it is so multi-faceted that you'll never feel stuck in a rut. You'll be able to move around relatively freely between jobs, as the opportunities are vast. Whether you prefer desk jobs where your main priorities would be organisational and managerial tasks, or you're someone who likes to work with people at grass roots level, there would be something to suit your style. You even have great entrepreneurial opportunities, so if you have the desire to start your own business, the tourism industry would be the ideal place to start!
What Tourism courses does College SA offer?
College SA offers the following two tourism courses:
What do these Tourism courses entail?
To give you a better idea of what these courses involve, we'll discuss each briefly:
- Tourism Management
- Tourism Marketing
As the course title indicates, this course would focus on the managerial side of tourism. Students can expect to learn more about managing tourist attractions or aspects such as travelling arrangements and accommodation. The content pays specific attention to the essential business skills one needs when working within the tourism industry, equipping students with the knowledge and know-how to deal with all human resources-related issues within this field.
In a fast-growing industry such as tourism, marketers play a crucial role in the success of any tourist attraction or place of accommodation. If people aren't aware of what a tourist destination offers, they won't visit it, and without tourists flocking to see or experience it, it won't achieve any success. This course uses the principles of marketing to teach students how to analyse the tourism market so as to successfully promote and increase awareness of that particular tourist attraction. It strikes a good balance between theoretical and practical knowledge, so this course is ideal for people with creative minds who would like to enter the tourism industry.
