Future Career - BSc Tourism

Today we are faced with profound challenges associated with environmental degradation and ecological instability. Tourism is a significant contributor to but is also a potential alleviator of these threats. This relationship between tourism and the environment is a central theme of the BSc Tourism programme. Critical issues are addressed in the programme relating to environmental understandings and decision-making processes, sustainable development, and natural resource management.  Alumni of the programme have taken up the challenge of finding innovative means of confronting these environmental concerns by pursuing a range of environment-focused master degrees, including Environmental Sciences, Climate Change Mitigation, Marine Development and Protection, Forest and Nature Conservation, and Disaster Management.

In an increasingly global, interconnected world issues of socio-cultural change are of central importance to the realms of policy formation, social organisation and business management. Changing patterns of tourist travel and tourism demand are leading to new and intensifying social and cultural encounters with potentially positive but also potentially negative consequences for individuals, communities, and societies. BSc Tourism alumni interested in exploring and addressing these transformations have enrolled is such master programmes as Human Geography, Cultural Diversity, Arts and Heritage Policy, Communication Studies, Health and Society, and Landscape and Architectural Planning.

Given the economic magnitude of the tourism sector on a global scale and the increasing importance of tourism to local communities and entire countries in terms of employment and income, it is not surprising that many BTO alumni have chosen masters’ programme related to business and economics. Whether their interests lie in studying the political economy of tourism or developing a career in the business management, BTO graduates have pursued such MSc degrees as International Business Administration, Marketing Management, Consumer Studies, and Economic Geography.

Although internships are not part of the standard curriculum of the BTO programme, after graduating some of our alumni have arranged and participated in internships or taken a gap year to work and/or travel before continuing on with an MSc. BTO alumni have done internships with a range of companies and organisations, including international development agencies, community-based tourism organisations,  sustainable trekking organisations, and political parties.