Destination Marketing and Management – (M.Sc.)

The tourism ‘destination’ comprises all those elements that collectively offer day and staying visitors an integrated visit experience and is regarded as the core component of the wider travel and tourism system. Each destination is a nexus of tourism activity, where a wide variety of stakeholders come together to assemble the tourism service-product, to facilitate its delivery and to experience its consumption. This means that the study of destinations is, by its very nature, an interdisciplinary undertaking.

There are two pathways units, namely: ‘Destination Marketing and Management’ and ‘Managing the Visitor Experience’. The first unit aims to develop a critical understanding of the historical and contemporary dynamics of destination management production systems, theoretical constructs, policy frameworks and operational policies. The unit also develops a critical understanding of the principles , practices and complexities of contemporary destination marketing and management, and develops an understanding of marketing and management strategies and tactics applicable to the context of destinations. Finally, the unit develops capacity to analyse and synthesise a wide range of national and international destination marketing and management planning and strategy documents to review these in theoretical contexts.

The second unit aims to develop a fuller understanding of the ways in which visitors experience, interpret, enjoy and evaluate a stay in a destination. The unit also aims to evaluate a variety of methods for researching visitor experiences and to understand better how destination management policies and practice can enhance the visitor experience.