Program Structure: Tourism Studies

Principles, paradigms, policies, practice

Learning how to make tourism sustainable

During your program of undergraduate studies, you will take courses which introduce you to the principles of sustainability and teach you how to apply them to tourism in all of their forms and contexts.

You’ll work at all scales, from the local to the global, and look at both the theoretical and the practical aspects of tourism, always considering the economic, environmental, and sociopolitical dimensions.

You have the option to do a 4-year Honours degree with or without co-op (the recommended choice); a 4-year Major degree (consisting primarily of coursework); or a 3-year Pass degree (covering the basics of the field of study).

Throughout your program, you will constantly be challenged to think and work across disciplinary boundaries, apply theoretical principles to practical contexts, understand the policy dimensions and regulatory context of tourism, and ground your work firmly in the underlying principles of sustainability.

Year one

First year provides year-long introductory foundation courses in tourism and human geography, which provides key definitions and concepts, and familiarizes you with viewing tourism through the lens of sustainability.

Representative courses include:

  • Introduction to Tourism
  • Understanding Tourism Industry Sectors
  • Introduction to Human Geography

Year two

In second year, you’ll get a thorough grounding in fundamental principles and paradigms of sustainable tourism, as well as an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods relevant to the field.

Representative courses include:

  • Culture, Heritage and Tourism
  • Tourist Behaviour
  • Research Methods
  • Nature-based Tourism
  • Economics of Tourism and Leisure Activities
  • Human-Dominated Ecosystems

For the Tourism Management stream, all students take the following courses offered by the Goodman School of Business:

  • Introduction to Information Systems
  • Entrepreneurship Basics
  • Marketing Basics
  • Basics of Organizational Behaviour and Design

Year three

In third year, you will move on to embrace policy analysis and interdisciplinary synthesis, and further improve your research capabilities. This is also the time when you are encouraged to participate in a formal international learning experience, either through international field courses or a university exchange program. During the Fall Reading week, you will take the Human Geography and Tourism Studies field course. You may want to consider a Disney Internship program.

Representative courses include:

  • Tourism Planning and Development
  • Research Methods (Qualitative and Quantitative)
  • International Tourism
  • Tourism in Parks and Protected Areas
  • Sustainable Transportation
  • Operations Management in Tourism
  • Culinary Tourism
  • Human Geography and Tourism Studies Field Course

Year four

In fourth year, your course work will focus intensively on specialized topics relevant to sustainable tourism. Honours program students may conduct original research, working one-on-one with a faculty member on an undergraduate thesis. Honours (non-Co-op) students will take an Internship course. For the Tourism Management stream, all students will take an additional two credits offered by the Goodman School of Business.

Representative courses include:

  • Crisis Management for Tourism
  • Event Management
  • Tourism, Animals and Ethics
  • Managerial Decision Making for Sustainable Tourism
  • Themes in Tourism Development
  • Destination Marketing and Management
  • Tourism Ethics
  • Sustainable Rural Tourism
  • Themes in Tourism Development