MA in Travel and Tourism Strategy
Course Overview
The MA in Travel and Tourism Strategy is a UK Level 7 research-informed senior practice degree running one year full-time or two years part-time on-campus, online or by distance learning, sitting inside the LSCAHM Hospitality Management department. The programme is aligned with Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT) competencies, Tourism Society guidance, ABTA sector standards and Institute of Hospitality benchmarks used across UK travel businesses, destination management organisations and hotel groups.
By graduation you can shape three-year growth strategy for a travel operator or destination, build revenue and demand-forecasting models, design a destination positioning brief, argue a sustainable-tourism case to a board, and complete a substantial dissertation, capstone or sponsor consulting project with a UK tourism business.
Assessment blends sponsor consulting reports, destination positioning briefs, board-level presentations and a substantial dissertation. Named supervisors are allocated at offer and support you across all three study modes.
Key Features
- UK Level 7 award aligned with ITT, Tourism Society and ABTA sector benchmarks.
- Modules across destination strategy, revenue management, digital distribution and sustainable tourism.
- Live sponsor project with a UK travel operator, tourism board or hotel group each cohort.
- Institute of Hospitality-aligned guest experience and service strategy content.
- Dissertation, capstone or sponsor consulting project supervised by senior operators.
- Central London teaching close to tourism boards, tour operators and hotel head offices.
- Small cohorts with weekly seminars and named tutor support across three study modes.
The programme is designed around a portfolio of sponsor-facing artefacts. Every module closes with something you could put on a table in front of a tourism board, tour operator or hotel commercial director.
What You Will Learn
- Shape three-year growth strategy for travel operators, agencies and destinations.
- Model tourism revenue, demand seasonality and price elasticity.
- Design destination positioning, brand and marketing strategy.
- Analyse tour operator, OTA and direct-distribution channel economics.
- Build sustainable tourism, carbon and community-impact strategies.
- Interpret UK and international tourism data sources and reporting.
- Negotiate airline, hotel and DMC commercial partnerships.
- Design and deliver a Master's-level research dissertation or consulting project.
Applied learning runs alongside research-informed theory, and the LSCAHM careers service opens introductions to UK tour operators, tourism boards, destination management companies and hotel commercial teams throughout the year.
Who This Course Is For
- Travel managers moving into head of strategy, planning or commercial director roles.
- Tour operator, DMC and tourism board professionals preparing for senior appointments.
- Bachelor's graduates targeting a UK travel and tourism strategy career.
- International applicants seeking UK-recognised senior tourism credentials.
- Hotel commercial leads moving into cross-sector travel strategy.
Applications are welcomed from senior travel operators without a Bachelor's degree on a portfolio route, and from Bachelor graduates targeting a senior tourism strategy career.
Career Pathways
- Tourism Manager
- Destination Marketing Manager
- Sustainable Tourism Consultant
- Head of Tourism Strategy
- Tour Operator (Senior)
- Travel Consultant (Corporate and Luxury)
- Airline Hospitality Manager
- Hospitality Brand Manager (Travel)
The LSCAHM careers service runs at least one industry-careers day each academic year connecting Master's students with UK tour operators, tourism boards, destination management companies and hotel commercial teams, and refreshes the curriculum against ITT, Tourism Society and ABTA guidance each year.
Travel and tourism strategy at Level 7 also covers destination crisis management, over-tourism policy response, community and indigenous stakeholder engagement, digital direct-booking strategy and airline commercial partnerships. Dissertations are welcomed on sustainability, digital distribution, luxury travel, cruise, cultural tourism and destination policy themes.
Entry Requirements
- A UK Bachelor's degree (2:2 or above) or equivalent international qualification in a relevant discipline.
- IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
- Applicants without a Bachelor's degree but with 5+ years of senior professional experience in travel or tourism are considered on portfolio.
- One academic and one professional reference.
- A 500-word research proposal or professional practice statement covering your tourism strategy focus.
Why Study at LSCAHM
LSCAHM is a specialist division of Harold International College of London teaching tourism strategy in small, tutor-visible cohorts. Tourism strategy sits between hospitality, events, food business and destination policy, and LSCAHM reads these as interlocking disciplines.
Central London places tour operators, tourism boards, luxury hotel groups, the Tourism Society and the Institute of Travel and Tourism within a short tube ride of every classroom, and every dissertation is supervised by a practising senior operator.
Every intake, on-campus or remote, joins the same weekly seminar structure with named programme-tutor support, and LSCAHM refreshes the travel and tourism strategy curriculum annually against Institute of Travel and Tourism, Tourism Society, ABTA and Institute of Hospitality guidance.
Apply for MA in Travel and Tourism Strategy
Applications for the MA in Travel and Tourism Strategy are reviewed on a rolling basis with named supervisor allocation at offer. Enrol on an LSCAHM Master's programme with dissertation, capstone or sponsor project supervised by practising chefs, hoteliers, event directors and industry executives. International applicants receive full visa, accommodation and English-language support from LSCAHM admissions, and instalment plans and international scholarships are assessed at application review. Enrol Now.
