BA in Tourism Advanced Planning
Course Overview
The BA in Tourism Advanced Planning is a three-year LSTITM full honours degree in the Travel Systems and Global Tourism department, with 36 months of full delivery or a top-up route for Higher Diploma holders. It prepares graduates for advanced tourism planning across airlines, OTAs and destination systems. The degree is aligned with references from IATA, ABTA and the Tourism Society.
By graduation you will hold a full honours degree, a London placement in a planning team and a Level 6 dissertation on a live advanced-planning question in tourism. The programme layers case studies, structured tutorials and applied assessments across GDS platforms, distribution economics, systems governance and data-flow integrity, giving undergraduates targeting a graduate career a route into airline distribution, OTA operations and travel-technology systems that recruiters can quickly read on a CV. You will exit the course able to demonstrate cross-team coordination in interview scenarios and to answer probing questions about how airlines, GDS providers, OTAs, wholesalers and technology teams operate in the current UK market.
Key Features
- Full three-year BA honours degree with a Level 6 dissertation
- Reference to IATA, ABTA and Tourism Society planning standards
- Placement year in an airline, OTA or DMO planning team
- Applied modelling on demand, capacity and seasonality
- Graduate careers coaching for planning-track roles
- Online, on-campus and distance-learning delivery
- Case-based assessment covering PNR handling, rate parity, fraud prevention, systems uptime, data governance, distribution APIs
- Applied a solo tutor session format with rolling written feedback
What You Will Learn
- How airline capacity and network planning connects to tourism outcomes
- How to model demand, seasonality and elasticity for a UK inbound market
- How to run a small planning cycle for an OTA or DMO team
- How to defend a planning recommendation against senior challenge
- How to protect ABTA and consumer-protection standards in planning outputs
- How to write a Level 6 dissertation on a planning question
- How to run a placement in a real UK planning team
- How to translate a plan into weekly operating rhythms
- How airlines, GDS providers, OTAs, wholesalers and travel-technology consultancies apply systems triage, distribution analytics and platform-integration risk assessment to real UK trading decisions
- How to structure a written recommendation for a senior UK tourism manager
Who This Course Is For
- School leavers targeting graduate planning roles in tourism
- Higher Diploma holders progressing to a planning top-up route
- Career changers with analyst backgrounds moving into tourism planning
- International applicants targeting UK planning posts
Career Pathways
- Tourism Data Analyst
- Airline Operations Coordinator
- Global Tourism Coordinator
- Tour Wholesaler Manager
- Tourism Systems Consultant
- Distribution Systems Consultant
LSTITM's careers service supports BA students through placement, graduate applications and long-run career planning, with ties to London-based airlines, OTAs and DMO planning teams.
Entry Requirements
- A-Levels (BBC or above) or IB (26+ points) or overseas equivalents
- A completed Higher Diploma or Advanced Diploma for top-up routes
- IELTS 6.0 overall (no band under 5.5) or equivalent English proficiency
- Personal statement outlining career objectives in tourism advanced planning
- Two academic or professional references
Why Study at LSTITM
LSTITM is the London School of Tourism and International Travel Management, a specialist division of Harold International College of London focused on destination, business, systems and strategic disciplines. Programmes are aligned with recognised UK bodies including the Tourism Society, ITT, ABTA, CIM, BCS and UKHospitality.
Our curriculum is written by former planning directors, airline commercial leaders and tourism systems consultants and delivered on-campus, online and by distance learning to fit school leavers and career changers.
Beyond the taught curriculum, BA in Tourism Advanced Planning learners join the wider LSTITM community across London and online, with rolling guest sessions from working professionals in airlines, GDS providers, OTAs, wholesalers and technology teams. These sessions bring the academic depth, research literacy and applied strategic thinking focus of the programme to life through concrete examples, and demystify how modern airline distribution, OTA operations and travel-technology systems teams recruit, promote and develop their people. Every learner also receives structured feedback on written assessments so that operational discipline becomes visible in the finished portfolio, ready for interview or promotion review.
The LSTITM approach is deliberate: pair recognised UK professional-body reference points with hands-on tutor guidance, structured tutorials and real case material from London tour operators, OTAs, airlines and destination boards. That combination is what turns the BA in Tourism Advanced Planning into more than a certificate on the wall, and into a piece of evidence that recruiters, promotion panels and consultancy partners can actually use.
Apply for BA in Tourism Advanced Planning
The BA in Tourism Advanced Planning opens for annual intakes at LSTITM's London campus, with online and top-up routes available. Apply for your full LSTITM undergraduate tourism degree with an advanced-planning specialism. The BA in Tourism Advanced Planning sits inside a wider LSTITM portfolio, so learners on this full BA honours route can move confidently into the next articulation step. Admissions typically responds within three working days, and applicants receive documented feedback on any application query before the next intake window closes. Enrol Now
