One of the most spectacular phenomena during the last decades is the continuous growth of tourism, which has become stronger in recent years. The complexity of the tourism industry on a state level derives from the fact that a great part of its product is rooted in complex international processes that take place in a global environment.
The globalization process, which expresses the change from local economy to regional and global economy, has important implications to society and economy in all fields, primarily topics concerned with spatial movement of people outside their native countries, namely planning, development, and management of the tourism industry. The new global economy includes a great potential for development, but also defines new rules of tough, uncompromising competition, often under conditions of severe uncertainty, and is therefore a key challenge on the agenda of tourism and hotel management systems. The uncertainty includes economic crises, security-related crises, climate changes, changes in tourism patterns and trends, as well as technological changes, which affect both the consumers’ behavior and the supply management by the tourism provider. Tourism management as an economic industry thus requires, beyond the level of ongoing management, understanding of complex processes and management strategies in the global arena under conditions of uncertainty. To this end, there is a need to train a generation of senior managers equipped with up-to-date research and management tools, which would be learned in appropriate courses. The program is designed to focus on strategies of tourism and hotel management that are suitable for the competitive and uncertain environment of an era of globalization and transnationalism. The program is designed to provide students with the tools and skills to manage global systems with a strategic view of tourism and hotel management such as international hotel chains, airlines, international tour operators, and planners or decision-makers in regional and national authorities.
Hence, Kinneret Academic College offers a unique M.A. program in Tourism and Hotel Management in the English language. The program is aimed to provide advanced tools that can assist the future generation of managers in the tourism and hotel industry worldwide. The program is built in two versions: A two-year program which is studied one full day per week, or a one-year program that can be studied two full days a week. One year comprises two semesters between October and June. The program is without a thesis, but requires short paper deliveries.
Credits, courses, project
The M.A. program in Tourism and Hotel Management covers 4 key components:
1. Tourism & Hospitality;
2. Strategic Management;
3. Economics & Finance;
4. Elective courses.
All of the courses are single-semester courses; frontal lectures (“lessons”) are two hours per week (2 credits), and seminar courses – one each year – are four hours per week (4 credits). In addition, each student must submit a supervised project paper (during the final semester) – also 4 credits.
The total of required credits is 40 (equivalent to 20 annual hours), of which 28 credits are compulsory courses and 12 credits are electives. The 28 compulsory course credits are divided as follows: 16 credits for lessons, 8 credits for seminars, and 4 credits for the final project.
The program also includes up to seven ‘completion’ courses (each two hours per week in one semester). These courses are designated for students with incomplete backgrounds from their B.A. degree. These courses do not grant credits. The requirement for completion courses is considered on an individual basis. Students must complete these courses before or during their first year in parallel to the M.A. courses.