Master's Degree in Tourism Management in Cultural Heritage

The official master's degree in Cultural Heritage Management for Tourism cultivates professionals capable of applying their knowledge of the humanities to the tourism sector. You can draw on this knowledge to innovate and enhance the tourism-cultural heritage combination in all its facets: geography, history, literature, language, anthropology, and sociology.

This master's degree has the following advantages:

• Knowledge and tools to create added value in tourism activities dealing with the local area and the tangible and intangible heritage.
• Contributions by tourism professionals to classes.
• Visits to cultural heritage sites.
• Focus on the latest developments in cultural tourism in the profession and in research.
• A two-pronged approach: research-oriented and profession-oriented, to be able to work and conduct research in cultural heritage management for tourism.
• Access to the Ph.D. program in Tourism.

The master's degree applies a "learning by doing" methodology to real-life cases through its Live Projects, and the mandatory placements offer an insight into the reality of the sector.

Career options

• Institutions promoting cultural tourism.
• Public and private organizations manage the content needed by the heritage resources of a region.
• Travel agencies specializing in cultural tourism.
• Companies that produce tourist guides.
• Institutions in charge of museums and monuments: both developing content and organizing visits.
• Consulting firms involved in cultural heritage projects.
• Design of itineraries connecting the humanities with tourism for private companies.

Access

Access to this master's degree is open to holders of an official bachelor's degree from a Spanish university or from another higher education institution within or outside the European Higher Education Area, provided this gives access to postgraduate studies in the country of issue.

Admission requirements

Prospective students must meet the following specific requirements.

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in the arts and humanities (Humanities, History of Art, History, Catalan or Spanish Language and Literature, Anthropology, Geography, Philology or Modern Languages), or Tourism.
• Alternatively, a bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Audiovisual Communication, Journalism, Sociology, or Education, or in an equivalent area. Students whose degree is not in the field of tourism or arts and humanities must confirm that they have professional or academic experience in these areas.
• A high level of Spanish is required: native speaker or B2.
• A high level of English is required: B2.

Curriculum

The master's degree comprises 60 ECTS in total and lasts one academic year. The syllabus is organized into eight modules, taught over two semesters. All modules are compulsory, so all students receive the same training. Six of these modules have a workload corresponding to six ECTS credits, while the other two – the placement module and the master's degree dissertation – count for 12 ECTS credits.

The first semester is devoted to five modules covering different disciplines in the humanities and tourism studies. The first three deal with basic theory in geography, history, literature, and language together with fundamental principles in tourism. The other two cover the theoretical foundations of the history of art, anthropology, and sociology together with fundamental principles in tourism. The first-semester modules are as follows.

• Module 1. Instruments of heritage management for tourism.
• Module 2. Historical interpretation of cultural resources.
• Module 3. Didactic mediation of the language and creation of literary tourist products.
• Module 4. Keys to interpreting the artistic heritage for tourism.
• Module 5. Social, economic, and anthropological strategies in cultural heritage management for tourism.

The second semester is for an important module: that of placements in high-prestige organizations. It also includes a module on methodology for conducting the research project for the master's degree dissertation. The final module is for the master's degree dissertation, which can be a profession- or research-oriented in its approach. This module is where students apply the knowledge acquired throughout the master's degree and it opens the door to a potential future in research for them. The second-semester modules are as follows.

• Module 6. Research methodologies and techniques.
• Module 7. Work Placement
• Module 8. Master's degree dissertation (TFM).