MSc Business Administration in Tourism & Change

Tourism is changing. It is vulnerable to change but also contributing to it:

• Tourism changes the social fabric of a destination and may lead to over-tourism
• Extreme weather events due to climate change affect the perception of destinations, while tourism contributes 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Lenzen et al. 2018)
• New digital technologies affect travel behavior with the potential for disruptive innovation within the sector

In the Master Tourism & Change you will learn to identify, interpret and provide solutions for strategic challenges faced by tourism businesses as well as destinations and to make strategic judgments under uncertainty by relying on an in-depth understanding of change processes.

Understanding the changes in society and in the business environment is a basic prerequisite for thinking about future strategies and actions. Building on a foundation of business administration, the program concept is set around a change framework consisting of an iterative process of analyzing, managing, and designing change in tourism. Analyzing the different drivers of change and evaluating their consequences for the tourism sector will allow you to devise a plan for managing change in organizations and will allow you to design progressive solutions to social, natural, or political-economic challenges at an early stage. As a society, the environment, and the economy constantly changes, this needs to be a continuous process to consider and adapt to the changing circumstances. Tourism, as an inherently social and globally connected phenomenon, is probably most in need of such a forward-looking and recurrent process.

The teaching and learning approach of the master is based on active and experiential learning: you will have the opportunity to work with practical cases, to practice different behaviors in role-play situations, to take part in management simulations, and to take responsibility in projects.

• Benefit from small class sizes, international lecturers, and a focus on active and experiential learning with the opportunity to work with practical cases, to practice different behaviors in role-play situations, to experience change on an international field trip, to take part in management simulations, and to take responsibility in projects.
• Use the many possibilities to increase your employability such as a personal development program, a mentoring program, a work placement, the international online management simulation, or the consultancy project.
• Narrow, winding streets and snow-capped mountains, modern shopping centers, and pure, unadulterated nature, the alpine city of Chur offer you an active student life, the hustle and bustle of city life, and an alpine recreational playground at your doorstep.

Gain tourism & business competence, hone your personal skills, apply them in practice to become a change-maker in destination management, tourism marketing, tour operation, hotel management, aviation, etc.