International Tourism Management (B.A.)

Tourism mainly takes place in public, multi-purpose spaces and offers local services from many different providers who have to work both cooperatively and competitively with each other. In addition, public or government influences in the form of regional development policy, promotion of certain tourist structures, etc. have a significant impact on the tourist development of a destination.

The Destination Management programme therefore focuses primarily on the fundamentals of destination management and development in the context of the conflicting interests of locals, visitors and various private and public stakeholders, and prepares students for work in relevant regional, national and international organisations.

The areas of application for a destination manager include:

• Associations and tourism organisations
• Incoming agencies
• Management consultancies
• Marketing organisations
• and many more.

Hospitality Management

The Hospitality Management programme covers the entire field of hotel and restaurant management, one of the most important areas of tourism services. Hospitality Management is characterised by a particularly high degree of internationality, with employment on different continents and in different companies being the rule rather than the exception. Furthermore, this major is particularly suitable as career preparation for students who enjoy direct communication with customers and are not afraid of occasionally stressful working conditions.

Possible areas of employment include:

• Wellness and health hotels
• Hotel associations or federations
• Chain restaurants
• Resorts, city hotels
• Examples of areas of work within a hotel/hotel chain: marketing, controlling, hotel purchasing, logistics, procurement.
• and much more.

Tour Operator Management

In the tour operator market segment, growing transparency of offerings and increasing travel experience among customers are leading to significant changes in company and offering structures, opening up many new areas of activity. The Tour Operator Management specialisation therefore deals with the organisational, legal and economic fundamentals of travel organisation as well as the needs and behaviour patterns of different target groups.

In the Tour Operator Management specialisation, the courses focus on preparing students for management positions in the tour operator sector, both in the outbound and inbound areas, i.e. in the organisation of group tours from the tour operator's location and in the support of travellers visiting the tour operator's country.

Possible areas of responsibility at a tour operator:

• Product development
• Catalogue production
• Purchasing (hotels, airlines, etc.)
• Marketing
• Controlling
• and much more

Transport & Mobility

In the Transport & Mobility specialisation, you will examine the close relationship between tourism, the transport industry and mobility, as well as the various aspects of mobility and modes of transport, since changing location and thus mobility during and at your holiday destination is an essential aspect of travelling.

Controlling has become extremely important in management practice. Acting as a navigator, the controller supports the company management in managing the business for success. The core function of controlling is to support planning and control by providing targeted information based on meaningful accounting, thereby ensuring rational decisions are made. This results in a broad range of tasks for the controller, including, for example, the assessment of investment projects, the economic control of operational processes, cost accounting-based budgeting and the analysis of the company's strategic situation.

There is high demand for (but also supply of) controlling graduates. The controlling specialisation prepares students for a career in controlling, but is also a suitable supplementary subject for numerous other fields of work.

Elective modules in the controlling specialisation

• Introduction to Controlling (including Excel applications), 3rd semester
• Controlling with SAP, 3rd or 5th semester
• Strategic Controlling, 5th semester
• Operational Controlling (including TOPSIM General Management business simulation), 6th semester

The event management specialisation builds on traditional business management knowledge to provide specialist knowledge in the organisation of leisure and cultural events. The aim is to train students to act as intermediaries between the creative and marketing sectors and experts in fields such as sport, culture or natural sciences, combining the elements of controlling and personnel management for such projects in a single person.

The Event Management specialisation offers excellent prospects for a career in a wide range of leisure and event-related activities at both national and international level.

Elective modules in the Event Management specialisation:

• Fundamentals of Event Management, 3rd semester
• Fairtrade Events, 5th semester
• Event Marketing, 6th semester
• Sustainable Event Management, 6th semester

Human resource management is an interdisciplinary field of work and research. That is why the Human Resource Management programme at West Coast University is also taught in an interdisciplinary manner. The programme includes modules from business administration, law and business psychology. In this way, we provide you with the tools you need to tackle complex tasks in practice. In addition, we would like to offer you the opportunity to participate in human resource management research at West Coast University as part of your term papers or final theses. Please visit the West Coast Institute for Human Resource Management website to find out more about the institute's research areas.

Elective modules in the Human Resource Management specialisation:

• Human Resource Management, 3rd semester
• Fundamentals and Labour Law, 5th semester
• New Work, 6th semester
• International Human Resource Management, 6th semester

The marketing specialisation takes a behavioural science approach.
The programme focuses on consumer behaviour and market psychology, with brand management, marketing instruments – especially communication policy – and empirical consumer research also playing an important role.
Our aim is to ensure the greatest possible practical relevance; therefore, a significant portion of the course content is taught through project work that is integrated into the teaching.

Teaching and research focus areas include consumer research, brand management, city and regional marketing, and customer relationship management (CRM).

Elective modules in the Marketing specialisation:

• Insights Driven Marketing / Marketing Research, 3rd semester.
• Brand Management I – Understanding and guiding brands as identity-oriented social design systems, 3rd semester.
• Brand Management II – Analysing and implementing brands as individual organisational principles, 5th semester.
• Fundamentals of Online Marketing, 6th semester.