BA in Tourism Experience Design
Course Overview
The BA in Tourism Experience Design is a three-year LSTITM full honours degree in the Tourism and Destination Management department, with 36 months of full delivery or a top-up route for Higher Diploma holders. It combines service design, product management and applied destination research, and is aligned with references from the Tourism Society, CIM and CMI.
By graduation you will hold a full honours degree, a placement portfolio of live experience projects and a Level 6 dissertation grounded in an applied UK-focused experience question. The programme layers case studies, structured tutorials and applied assessments across destination branding, visitor economies, community-focused tourism and inbound market development, giving undergraduates targeting a graduate career a route into destination management, tour operations and inbound tourism that recruiters can quickly read on a CV. You will exit the course able to demonstrate evidence-based reasoning in interview scenarios and to answer probing questions about how DMOs, tourism boards, inbound operators and heritage sites operate in the current UK market.
Key Features
- Full three-year BA honours degree with a Level 6 dissertation
- Reference to Tourism Society, CIM and CMI standards
- Placement year at a London operator, DMO or experience agency
- Studio-style experience-design projects each academic year
- Applied research project on a UK experience question
- Online, on-campus and distance-learning delivery routes
- Case-based assessment covering inbound arrivals, cultural heritage sites, seasonality, DMO governance, community engagement, sustainable visitor economies
- Applied a paired review clinic format with rolling written feedback
What You Will Learn
- How to run a full tourism experience-design cycle end-to-end
- How to use ethnographic and behavioural methods for tourism
- How to prototype and test experiences without hurting live traffic
- How to make an honest commercial case for an experience redesign
- How to embed CIM and Tourism Society standards into experience work
- How to lead a small studio team through a project cycle
- How to run a placement in a London operator or DMO
- How to write a Level 6 dissertation on an experience question
- How London and regional DMOs, national tourism boards, heritage organisations and inbound tour operators apply destination briefing, visitor-economy mapping and cross-partner coordination 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 careers in tourism experience design
- Higher Diploma holders looking at a shorter experience-focused top-up
- Creative or service-design professionals moving into tourism
- International applicants targeting UK experience-design tourism roles
Career Pathways
- Tourism Product Manager
- Customer Experience Manager
- Destination Marketing Executive
- Cultural Tourism Officer
- Heritage Tourism Manager
- Tourism Consultant (experience)
LSTITM's careers service supports BA students through placement, graduate applications and long-run career planning, with ties to London-based tour operators, DMOs and experience agencies.
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 experience design
- 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 and UKHospitality.
Our curriculum is written by former experience directors, DMO leaders and travel-industry consultants, and delivered on-campus, online and by distance learning to fit both school leavers and career changers.
Beyond the taught curriculum, BA in Tourism Experience Design learners join the wider LSTITM community across London and online, with rolling guest sessions from working professionals in DMOs, tourism boards, inbound operators and heritage sites. 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 destination management, tour operations and inbound tourism teams recruit, promote and develop their people. Every learner also receives structured feedback on written assessments so that analytical rigour 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 Experience Design 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 Experience Design
The BA in Tourism Experience Design 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 experience-design specialism. The BA in Tourism Experience Design 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
