
Master of Science in International Tourism
Lugano, Switzerland
DURATION
4 Semesters
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
CHF 4,000 / per semester **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* 30/04/24 for non EU/EFTA; 30/06/24 for EU/EFTA
** applicants whose official residence was in Switzerland or Liechtenstein at the time of the final high school exam - Maturità - pay a reduced semester fee of CHF 2,000 per semester
Introduction
The International Tourism industry needs skilled and creative managers who:
- Understand how to tackle sustainability challenges of tourism and its impact on societies
- Master different ways of critical thinking needed for solving complex problems
- Implement sustainable change integrating the perspectives of local residents, tourists, and service providers
…to create a sustainable future of travel and tourism. Not just in Switzerland, but worldwide.
During your University degree in tourism, would you like to Master…
- Cutting-edge tools to interact successfully in an ever more digital international tourism environment?
- Intercultural competences that take time to develop but are required for present-day international tourism jobs?
- Unique communication and leadership skills that enable a high-level career in the global tourism market?
Highlights of the USI Master in International Tourism programme in Switzerland
- Gain practical hands-on experience in tourism already before completing your university degree
Experiential learning in various applied team projects, practical labs, international study trips, international conferences, Study Tour week to a European city destination, tourism internship in Switzerland or abroad, company visits. - Sharpen essential multidisciplinary & soft skills
Acquire toolkits of Economics, Communication Sciences, and Management. Specialize yourself during the Minor in eTourism or the Minor in Sustainability, tackle food waste in the World Challenges Programme, or study a semester abroad at one of our selected partner universities. Most importantly, you will actively train your intercultural communication and leadership skills every day. - Grow personally and professionally thanks to direct & individual support
Small intercultural classes (< 30 students), individual attention of professors, support to participate in tourism award competitions, possibility to learn directly from our distinguished International Tourism Alumni in the Tourism Career Lab course, dedicated Career Service - Develop your talent with our international expert Faculty & leading tourism practitioners from Switzerland and abroad
Tourism professors coming from all over the world to the heart of Europe to teach your courses in Lugano, guest lectures by leading international tourism experts, direct access to the business community of tourism professionals in Switzerland - Excellent career placement records
92.9% of USI graduates are employed within 1 year after graduation.* The USI Master in International Tourism equips you for a high-level career in management positions within Destination Management & Marketing Organizations; Transportation & Accommodation companies; (online) Tour Operators; (virtual) Event Management & Conferences; Corporate Travel Management; Tourism Research & Consultancy; Governments, NGOs, and Tourism Industry Associations. Get inspired by the Career Stories of our International Tourism Alumni.
The USI Master in International Tourism is deeply involved in the USI UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote Sustainable Tourism in World Heritage Sites – hosted at our university – through teaching, applied research projects, Master thesis opportunities, and internships offered to our Master in International Tourism students.
Become part of our USI Master in International Tourism family to co-create the sustainable future of travel and tourism!
*Source: USI Alumni Placement Survey 2017
Gallery
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Please check out the university website and find out more about our scholarships.
Curriculum
Structure and contents
Shape the Sustainable Future of Travel and Tourism
Tourism has grown to become a global economic industry. Managing international tourism means understanding its diversity and requires a frequent change of perspectives between the various stakeholders involved in tourism: different types of tourists, tourism businesses, the local community, tourism employees, governments, NGOs, activist groups, and tourism industry associations – to name a few.
The USI Master in International Tourism responds to this need by offering a multidisciplinary and forward-thinking approach. While acquiring toolkits of Economics, Communication Sciences, and Management, you master different ways of critical thinking which are key to solving complex problems in tourism.
While our core courses give you a helicopter view of the International Tourism Industry, you specialize yourself during your minor in eTourism, minor in Sustainability, the World Challenges Programme, or a semester abroad at one of our selected partner universities.
You study in small intercultural classes taught by an expert Faculty coming to Lugano from all over the world. Through various labs, applied group projects, conferences, field excursions in Switzerland and abroad, Study Tour to a European city destination, tourism internship, you sharpen essential soft skills and gain valuable hands-on experience in tourism at university level.
The USI Master in International Tourism is designed to equip learners from a wide variety of educational backgrounds with the toolkits and soft skills needed to shape international tourism in a sustainable way, creating the best possible start for a successful tourism career.
Our graduates are well-equipped for a high-level career in the international tourism industry within Destination Management & Marketing Organizations; Transportation & Accommodation companies; (Online) Tour Operators; Event Management & Conferences; Corporate Travel Management; Tourism Research and Consultancy; Governments, NGOs & Tourism Industry Associations.
Master Thesis
During the final semester, as a USI Master in International Tourism student, you'll have to choose research and write a Master thesis on a tourism-related topic of your choice.
USI Master in International Tourism students benefit from Master thesis research project support given by Postdoctoral researchers and PhD students affiliated to our Academic Partners:
- Tourism Observatory (O-Tur) Canton of Ticino (USI Lugano)
- Webatelier.net Research and Development Laboratory for e-Tourism (USI Lugano)
We encourage academic publications and industry articles from Master theses.
The Grand MTour
A key aspect of the Master in International Tourism is experiential learning, rooted in external classes all along with the programme. We immerse ourselves in tourism, combining theoretical and practical learning. Every semester you’ll have at least one external class, which will allow you to explore Ticino, Switzerland or Europe. We call this two-year long activity “The Grand MTour”: leaving and returning to Lugano, you will travel to perfect your knowledge, as intellectuals used to do in the past.
The Grand MTour culminates in the final Study Tour. Each year, our 2nd-year USI Master in International Tourism learners explore a major European tourism destination during a week-long study trip.
This educational trip, which our learners consider as one of the highlights of the USI Master in International Tourism programme, is offered exclusively to Master in International Tourism students by USI university and is accompanied by tourism professors.
Through various meetings with local tourism professionals, the Study Tour gives you the unique opportunity to observe the ‘’back stage’’ of the international tourism industry and apply all concepts and skills that you have learned during the master.
Curious? Get an idea of the USI Master in International Tourism Study Tours experience.
Tourism Internship
As a USI Master in International Tourism student, you have to do an internship in tourism, which you can choose based on your interest.
The university’s Career Service supports enrolled learners and graduates with tourism internship offers, internship documentation support, and 1-to-1 guidance. The USI Career Service guides you not only to improve your CV and motivation letter but also prepares you for a successful internship or job interview.
The tourism internship is awarded 9 ECTS in the study programme and has a minimum duration of 2-3 months at 100% (or an equivalent). You can do the tourism internship between the 2nd and 3rd semester, during or after the 4th semester.
To get more insights on the students` perspective and experience check out our Tourism Internship Stories.
Our USI Master in International Tourism students have completed their tourism internships in the following sectors and organizations in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland, and worldwide.
Rankings
INTERNATIONAL RANKINGS
USI in the Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS), which are amongst the world's most popular and well-known global rankings - latest available data:
- QS World University Rankings 2023
240th globally
(out of 1500 universities considered) - THE World University Rankings 2023
Range 201-250
(out of 1799 universities considered) - THE World's Best Small Universities 2022
15th worldwide
among small universities. - THE Young University Rankings 2022
57th worldwide
among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old) - QS Top 50 Under 50 2021
26th worldwide
among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old)
U-MULTIRANK 2022
With 16 "A" in the indicators taken into consideration, USI ranks 3rd in the ranking of Swiss universities (Country Report Switzerland).
RANKINGS BY SUBJECT AREA
In addition to the global university rankings, USI has made significant progress in subject area rankings:
- THE Subject Rankings
with important results in particular in Computer Science, Clinical and Health, Economics. - Forschungsmonitoring
with high scores in the rankings that measure the impact of research in Economics, especially when referring to the most prestigious academic journals of the field.
Program Outcome
Goals and contents
Tourism – the romantic escape from everyday reality to picturesque places has grown to become a major economic sector in itself.
Next to financial services, it is the only industry that is established in every country around the world. Tourism is produced internationally, and fascinates an international clientele that could not be more diverse: Day-trippers, Backpackers, Families, Responsible Tourists, Business Tourists – or rather hundreds of millions of human beings who all approach their leisure time with a different interpretation.
Therefore, managing international tourism means understanding its diversity. This requires a frequent change of perspectives between the various stakeholders involved in tourism: different types of tourists, tourism businesses, local residents, tourism employees, governments, NGOs, activist groups, and tourism industry associations – to name a few.
To become capable of solving complex problems in tourism that frequently arise between these very different tourism stakeholders, you will learn how to use insights and toolkits from the scientific fields that are key to finding creative and innovative solutions to major issues in tourism:
- Economics and Management (of tourism, tourism businesses, culture, territory, and the natural environment);
- Communication (in tourism, tourism marketing, information technologies and new media, eTourism, and human sciences);
- Politics, Institutions, and International Relations
The international tourism industry needs highly competent and dynamic young people who have a strategic and curious view on tourism and who like to challenge the status quo with a strong sense of responsibility.
Be part of the USI Master in International Tourism to shape the sustainable future of travel and tourism.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Career Prospects
Graduating from the USI Master in International Tourism gives you:
- a strong foundation in communication, economics, and management skills specifically applied to the international tourism industry: new media for tourism communication, intercultural communication, tourism economics, the economics of transport and mobility, aviation management, corporate travel management, destination management, risk and crisis management, and event management,
- an in-depth understanding of various tourism experiences: from the cultural history of tourism to the analysis of today’s tourism consumer behaviour, and future sustainable tourism planning and development of destinations and UNESCO World Heritage Sites; from its design and packaging to online marketing and service management of tourism experiences,
- the cutting-edge tools to effectively interact in an ever-increasing international and digital business environment of tourism: project management, negotiation, e-tourism technology, international relations, online communication design, usability and digital analytics, augmented and virtual reality
- the advanced multidisciplinary and problem-solving skills developed during our Master, which are highly valued by employers worldwide
…preparing you to work in various functions within tourism businesses and equipping graduates for a high-level career in the International Tourism industry.
Successful completion of the USI Master in International Tourism also provides preferential access to the PhD programmes in Economics or Communication Sciences offered at USI, in which you can write your PhD dissertation on a tourism-related topic.
Be part of the USI Master in International Tourism to shape the sustainable future of travel and tourism.
Employability Data
- Employed 100%
- Average Time to job 2,8 months
(50% within 3 months)