DEGREE GUIDE

Tourism

What do Tourism degrees involve?

Tourism degrees teach you how to manage and promote travel experiences, destinations, and hospitality services in a global industry. You will explore key areas such as tourism management, sustainable travel, marketing, event planning, and customer experience. These courses help you develop business, communication, and problem-solving skills while understanding the cultural, economic, and environmental impact of tourism. You will also learn how to analyse market trends, design visitor experiences, and manage tourism operations. Many degrees offer industry placements, international study opportunities, and real-world projects, giving you hands-on experience in one of the world’s largest industries.

Example
Modules

Introduction to Tourism: Learn about leisure, adventure, business and eco-tourism. Discover why people travel, how destinations attract visitors, and how the industry has evolved globally.

Destination Management and Planning: Learn how to manage entire destinations, from attractions and infrastructure to crisis response & sustainable growth.

Tourism Marketing and Promotion: Design campaigns that inspire travel. Learn about market segmentation, branding, social media, and using influencers to promote destinations.

Common Degree Names

💼 Placement years are commonly available in tourism boards, attractions, events or travel agencies.
🌍 Study abroad is widely offered.

BA (Hons) Tourism Management
BA (Hons) International Tourism Management
BA (Hons) Tourism and Events
BA (Hons) Tourism and Marketing
BA (Hons) Sustainable Tourism Management

Level 3 (A-level / IB Diploma (HL) / Scottish Highers)

Tourism degrees prepare you to understand one of the world's largest industries. Universities value a range of backgrounds because the industry itself is diverse – combining business, geography, culture, and customer service.

Subjects that can strengthen your application:

Business Studies – relevant for understanding tourism operations and management
Geography – useful for understanding destinations, environments, and sustainable tourism
Travel and Tourism – directly relevant where available
Economics – helpful for understanding tourism's economic impact
Languages – valuable for international tourism careers
Sociology or Psychology – relevant for understanding tourist behaviour

✨ Any combination of subjects can work for Tourism. Universities value your interest in travel, culture, and customer experience – the industry welcomes people from many different backgrounds.

Universities may also accept:

BTEC Extended Diplomas in Travel and Tourism or Business (widely accepted and often preferred)
BTEC National Extended Certificates or National Diplomas alongside relevant A-Level subjects
T-Levels in Management and Administration
IB Career-related Programme (IBCP) with at least two IB Higher Level subjects (ideally three - see relevant subjects above) alongside your Career-Related Study; a Business pathway would be directly relevant

Some courses are accredited by the Institute of Hospitality, providing professional recognition and networking opportunities. Always check specific course requirements.

Level 2 Qualifications (GCSE or equivalent)

Most courses ask for:

GCSE English Language and Maths (or equivalent) – often at grade 4/C or above. Equivalents include Scottish National 5s, BTEC Level 2, or IB MYP certificates

📋 Strong communication skills are important for tourism careers, so English requirements may be emphasised at some universities.

💬 Interviews

Interviews are not usually required, but some universities may invite you for a short conversation, either online or in person, to learn more about your interest in the subject

🔍 Work Experience

Not required, but tourism is an industry-focused degree and spending time in settings where tourism operates helps you understand what the course leads to. A hotel, visitor attraction, travel company, events venue, or tourist information centre gives you first-hand experience of how the industry works behind the scenes. Any customer-facing role in hospitality or leisure is also relevant; pay attention to how things are organised and managed, not just the customer experience.

✨ Personal Statement Tips

What interests you about how tourism works as an industry — the economics, the marketing, the impact on communities, or how it's managed sustainably? Tourism degrees aren't about travelling; they're about understanding how one of the world's largest industries operates and the complex effects it has on places and people. If you've visited somewhere and thought about how tourism affects local communities, noticed how destinations market themselves, or followed debates about overtourism, sustainable travel, or how the industry adapts to challenges, reflect on what questions those observations raised. Reading about tourism management, exploring how different countries approach tourism development, or thinking critically about your own travel experiences can show genuine engagement. Admissions tutors want to see you're curious about the industry behind the experience, not just that you enjoy holidays.

If your qualifications don't match the usual entry requirements, there are some other possibilities.

🌱 Foundation Year in Tourism, Hospitality or Business

Some universities offer a foundation year if you don't have the required subjects or grades. This adds an extra year but leads directly into the full degree.

🎓 Access to HE Diploma (Travel & Tourism or Business)

Widely accepted by universities offering Tourism. Choose a pathway with business or tourism-related content, and aim for Merits and Distinctions in your graded units.

💼 Level 3 Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships such as Travel Consultant or Hospitality Supervisor carry UCAS tariff points from 2026 and can support a university application. Tourism degrees are typically offered by universities with flexible admissions policies.

Is this degree right for you?

Members can explore whether this degree fits who they are:

Skills you'd develop and whether they match your strengths
How this aligns with your interests, motivators and values
Career paths and where graduates end up

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Skills you would develop in X degree

Skill Name

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Is this a good fit for you?

Use the tabs to explore the kind of person that this would be a good fit for. Do you share the Interests, Motivations, Values, Work identity and skills that people who thrive in this course tend to have?

Not sure what these things are? Explore your Identity Tree with us first.

Interests that connect well with a Tourism degree

Students who enjoy this degree often share these interests. You don't need to feel strongly about all of them, and interests develop over time. If one or two catch your curiosity, or sound like something you'd like to know more about, that's a good sign.

Running Projects, Events & Ventures: Tourism is a management degree. You'll learn how destinations are planned, how tourism businesses run, how marketing campaigns attract visitors, and how operations come together to deliver experiences from a city break to an eco-lodge stay.

Different Cultures, Languages & Beliefs: Tourism puts you in close contact with cultural differences. You'll study what shapes the traveller experience across different parts of the world, how heritage tourism works, and how visitors and host communities encounter each other respectfully.

The Environment & Sustainability: Sustainability runs through this degree. You'll study the environmental impact of tourism, eco-tourism and conservation models, how to address overtourism, and how the industry is responding to climate change and pressure on local environments and communities.

Students who thrive in a Tourism degree are often motivated by

Building and Sustaining Relationships

You feel energised by work where the people you work with aren't passing strangers but become known to you across years: clients, patients, students, customers. Forming new connections matters, but the deeper energy comes from the slower work of staying present, remembering the small details, picking up where you left off. You come most alive when someone you've known for years is back in front of you, and you take up the conversation as if no time had passed.

Engaging with People and Cultures

You're energised by working closely with people to understand what's really going on for them: talking, listening, asking questions, spending time, picking up on what isn't being said directly. That might be interviewing someone for a piece of research, sitting with a client who's trying to work something out, exploring a community you've not been part of, or working alongside people from a different culture. The energy comes from the engagement itself, not just from reading or thinking about people.

Trends and Pattern-Spotting

You're energised by noticing what's changing before others do, whether that's emerging cultural trends, shifts in data, new technologies gaining traction, or patterns in behaviour. You find energy in predicting what's coming next and understanding why things are moving in a particular direction. You're drawn to the signals others overlook, and you'd rather be early to the question than late to the answer.

Sustainability and Environmental Care

You're energised by work that makes things better for the planet: developing green technology, reducing waste, protecting ecosystems, restoring habitats, or helping people and organisations shift to more sustainable ways of living. You feel most engaged when your effort is doing something measurable about environmental problems, not just thinking or caring about them. Seeing a real-world result, whether that's cleaner energy, less waste, or an ecosystem that recovers, is what carries you through the harder parts of the work.

Working Internationally

You're energised by work that crosses borders and connects you with people from different countries, backgrounds, and systems. That might be collaborating with international colleagues, working in a place that isn't your own, using another language professionally, or tackling problems that don't stop at a single country's borders. You come alive when the work you're doing reaches beyond your own patch of the world.

What makes Tourism click for the students who love it?

What pulls them towards tourism is the wider world: other countries, other ways of living, and time spent inside cultures rather than just passing through. They care that travel is done responsibly, that the places people visit are not worn out or stripped for profit. Where travel is heading next interests them, which destinations are rising and how people want to explore. Much of it comes down to people, the trust built with the communities who host visitors. The travel they care about leaves a place better off, not just the traveller.

These are the skills that students who love this degree tend to enjoy using. You don't need to be great at them already, but if they sound like you, that's a good sign.

Skill Name

Skills that suit this degree

You don't need to be great at these already — but if you enjoy using them or want to get better at them, that's a good sign.

Do you find yourself curious about how the travel industry works — why people visit certain places and how destinations attract them?
Do you enjoy thinking about how to promote a place or experience — what makes people want to visit somewhere new?
Do you care about whether tourism is good or bad for the places it touches — and how it could be done more responsibly?
Do you enjoy learning about different cultures and how people around the world think, travel, and experience new places?

Careers a Tourism degree could lead you to

Tourism

What do Tourism degrees involve?

Example Modules

Common Degree Names

Is this degree right for you?

Skills you would develop in X degree

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Is this a good fit for you?

Careers a Tourism degree could lead you to

Example
Modules