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Tourism Innovation

Code: 104960 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500894 Tourism OT 4

Contact

Name:
Carmen Ruiz Aguado
Email:
carmen.ruiza@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites. 


Objectives and Contextualisation

The course aims to equip the fourth-year students of the Degree in Tourism with analytical and critical thinking about the current trends in tourism and the most suitable business practices to be implemented in the different types of tourism companies and independent professionals in order to differentiate themselves from competitors and increase their market quota. 

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

  • Analyze the new trends applied to tourism and know what would be the most appropriate to implement in each case.
  • Teamwork.
  • Develop an ability to learn independently.
  • Ability to self-assess the knowledge acquired.
  • Working with communication techniques and new technologies at all levels.
  • Develop critical thinking.
  • Keep updated about current trends in the tourism sector

 

 

 


Competences

  • Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
  • Behave responsibly towards the environment.
  • Critically interpret the context in which the tourism sector operates, from different perspectives deriving from theory, ideology and good practice.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of tourism in all its dimensions and areas.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the functioning and evolution of different tourism models in order to choose the most suitable one and apply it in the current environment.
  • Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  • Display a customer service orientation.
  • Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
  • Innovate in tourism: both in planning and commercialisation and in the management of organisations.
  • Manage human resources in tourism organisations.
  • Plan and manage activities on the basis of quality and sustainability.
  • Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
  • Propose creative alternative solutions to problems arising in the field of tourism management, planning, businesses and products.
  • Show initiative and an entrepreneurial approach to business creation and management in the tourism sector.
  • Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
  • Use communication techniques at all levels.
  • Work in a team.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply the different management and planning tools that help to drive the development of the tourism sector.
  2. Argue in favour of good practice and the newest trends and approaches in the face of the challenges posed by tourism development.
  3. Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
  4. Behave responsibly towards the environment.
  5. Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  6. Display a customer service orientation.
  7. Extrapolate from studies and presentations of real cases in the tourism sector.
  8. Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
  9. Identify the latest trends and best practice, in order to innovate in planning, management and commercialisation in tourism entities, products and organisations.
  10. Identify the sources of new trends in the tourism sector.
  11. Keep pace with the latest outstanding initiatives, projects and businesses in tourism as inspiration for maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit.
  12. Manage human resources in tourism organisations.
  13. Plan and manage activities on the basis of quality and sustainability.
  14. Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
  15. Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
  16. Use communication techniques at all levels.
  17. Work in a team.

Content

Unit 1: New trends in the tourism sector

Unit 2: Travel blogs and travel bloggers

Unit 3: Introduction to Revenue Management

Unit 4: Tourist packages design and creation

Unit 5: Technologies applied to tourism 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 20 0.8 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Practice classes 7 0.28 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Type: Supervised      
Tutoring 14 0.56 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Type: Autonomous      
Asignment preparation 30 1.2 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Practice cases and exercises resolution 32 1.28 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Study 32 1.28 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16

Teaching language:

Degree in tourism: English

Degree in tourism in English:  English 

 

The course operates on three methodologies of teaching and learning:

a) Theoretical Methodology: face-master class explanations for to the different syllabus items that help the student to develop a practical methodology.

b) Practice methodology: Research case studies to be shared and debated by students, test and learning operation of different technological tools explained in class. This practice methodology can include also the participation in a live project (develop consultant activities for external companies to solve one specific question). 

c) Seminars, conferences and / or company visits held by professionals of tourism.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Continuous assessment exam 40% of final mark 1 0.04 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
Unit 1 activities 12 % of final mark 3 0.12 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17
Unit 2 activities 12% of final mark 3 0.12 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17
Unit 3 activities 10% of final mark 3 0.12 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 17
Unit 4 activities 16% of final mark 3 0.12 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17
Unit 5 activities 10% final mark 2 0.08 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17

The evaluation of the subject consists of two different assessment models:

Continuous evaluation. Continuous evaluation consists of the following system:

a) The completion of a test on the last day of class to validate the knowledge acquired through all the practical activities of the subject, which will count for 40% of the final grade and will also include the theoretical content covered in lectures.

b) The completion of various practical activities in the classroom and outside the classroom related to the theoretical content studied in class, which will count for 60% of the final grade (12% for activities in themes 1 and 2, 10% for activities in themes 3 and 5, and 16% for activities in theme 4). Proper formal presentation and careful execution will be assessed.

To participate in continuous evaluation, the completion of the 80% of practical activities of the subject is mandatory.

Final evaluation. The final evaluation will consist of the following assessments:

a) The completion of a dossier withactivities related to the 5 themes of the subject, which will count for 60% of the final grade (12% for activities in themes 1 and 2, 10% for activities in themes 3 and 5, and 16% for activities in theme 4).

b) The completion of an exam, which will count for 40% of the final grade.

"The re-evaluation of the subject through the final evaluation will follow the same process as for the rest of the students, and to participate in the re-evaluation, it will be necessary to have obtained a minimum grade of 3.5 in the set of evidence thatconstitutes the final evaluation."

Re-evaluation. Those students who have not passed the subject in the final evaluation session and have obtained a final grade higher than 3.5 will have the right to take the re-evaluation exam. The maximum grade that the student can achieve in this session is 5.

The grade for the subject will be NOT EVALUABLE when the student attends less than half of the assessment activities and/or does not attend the final exam. 

Bibliography

Amadeus Travel Trends 2024: How will we travel next year? https://amadeus.com/en/insights/press-release/amadeus-travel-trends2024-how-will-we-travel-next-year

Bosangit, Carmela, Sally Hibbert, and Scott McCabe. “‘If I Was Going to Die I Should at Least Be Having Fun’: Travel Blogs, Meaning and Tourist Experience.” Annals of Tourism Research 55 (2015): 1–14. Web.

Chen, Yu-Chen, Rong-An Shang, and Ming-Jin Li. “The Effects of Perceived Relevance of Travel Blogs’ Content on the Behavioral Intention to Visit a Tourist Destination.” Computers in human behavior 30 (2014): 787–799. Web.

Chiam, Michael, Geoffrey Soutar, and Alvin Yeo. “Online and Off-Line Travel Packages Preferences: a Conjoint Analysis.” International Journal of Tourism Research 11.4 (2009): 31–40. Web.

Cramer, Curt., and Andreas. Thams. Airline Revenue Management : Current Practices and Future Directions. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. in Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, 2021. Print.

Huefner, Ronald J. Revenue Management : a Path to Increased Profits / Ronald J. Huefner. Second edition. New York, New York (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017): Business Expert Press, 2015. Print.

Lojo, Aureli, and Gemma Cànoves. “New Tourism Trends in Barcelona. Chinese Tourist Experiences and Local Perceptions.” N.p., 2015. Print.

Madriz, Stefanie, and Santiago Tejedor. “Analysis of Effective Digital Communication in Travel Blog Business Models.” (2020): n. pag. Print.

Matoga, Łukasz, and Aneta Pawłowska. “Off-the-Beaten-Track Tourism: a New Trend in the Tourism Development in Historical European Cities. A Case Study of the City of Krakow, Poland.” Current issues in tourism 21.14 (2018): 1644–1669. Web.

Mauri, Aurelio G. (2012). Hotel revenue management: principles and practices. Milano: Pearson. 

Michał Roman et al. “Virtual and Space Tourism asNew Trends in Travelling at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland) 14.2 (2022): 628–. Web.

Oana DURALIA. “Culinary Tourism. A New Trend on the Tourism Market.” Expert Journal of Marketing 5.2 (2017): 66–71. Print.

Parlov, Natalija, Davor Perkov, and Željko Sičaja. “New Trends in Tourism Destination Branding by Means of Digital Marketing.” Acta Economica Et Turistica 2.2 (2016): 139–146. Web.

Sigala, Marianna. “New Technologies in Tourism: From Multi-Disciplinary to Anti-Disciplinary Advances and Trajectories.” Tourism management perspectives 25 (2018): 151–155. Web.

Sun, Minghui, Chris Ryan, and Steve Pan. “Using Chinese Travel Blogs to Examine Perceived Destination Image: The Case of New Zealand.” Journal of travel research 54.4 (2015): 543–555. Web.

Syratt, Gwenda., and Jane. Archer. Manual of Travel Agency Practice Gwenda Syratt, Jane Archer. 3rd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003. Print.

 7 Of 2024’s Most Surprising Travel Trends https://www.forbes.com/sites/wendyaltschuler/2024/02/21/the-hottesttravel-trends-that-will-surprise-you/?sh=69d3acdd1819

The biggest travel trends for 2024 https://www.cntraveler.com/story/travel-trends-2024

Other supporting material (articles & news) will be facilitated through virtual campus

 

 

 


Software

No specific software is used


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 1 English second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 English second semester morning-mixed