Tourism Project Management

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Today, any organization that sets a future goal to improve or achieve a specific objective does so by implementing a project. A project means identifying objectives or goals, planning resources to meet them and the subsequent evaluation of the work carried out, all performed in a specific time frame. Project management, which originated in more technical fields, also makes sense in service companies and, specifically, in the tourism sector.

The main objective of the course is to show students everything involved in project management for a tourism project from the most practical perspective possible. Thus, the student will be able to apply the knowledge gained in the degree to specific, real-life situations. We will study several tools that can assist us to effectively manage a project, as well as the key processes involved in project management. After providing a theoretical introduction, the students, in groups, will carry out a fictitious tourism project. Thus, they will work through the different stages that make up project management. The groups will receive follow-up and their work will be monitored by the professor from the beginning of the projects until they are presented to the rest of the class at the end of the course.

GENERAL SKILLS
Have business vision.
Make decisions and solve problems, interpreting and evaluating the results with a critical attitude.
Work in an international context.

SPECIFIC SKILLS
Manage financial resources.
Analyze and evaluate tourism potential when designing products, services, and projects.
Market tourism products, services, and projects.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Enable the student to identify the objectives and priorities of the tourism organization in which they perform their professional functions:
- Understand the indicators that mark lines of action for tourism organizations.
- Provide the student with the skills necessary to identify the evolution of tourism markets, which may help predict future development trends.
- When faced with a problem, know how to select the relevant information to solve it:
- Prepare the student to know how to recognize problems and to come up with the most appropriate solutions.
- Know how to deal with problems and with the people involved in the most assertive way possible.
- Understand and accept diversity (sex, age, physical, sensory, intellectual ability and/or mental health), linguistic, social and cultural diversity (religion, ideology and/or ethnicity) as an enriching element personally and for the group in order to promote coexistence:
- When working in a team, know how to make people value your opinions, how to explain and defend your opinions, while accepting and understanding the contributions of other team members.
- Understand that diversity on a team is never an obstacle, but rather it enriches points of view and benefits the final results in any project.
- Enable the student to identify the objectives and priorities of the tourism organization in which they perform their professional functions:
- Know how to find the sources of financing that are most appropriate for each project.
- Know how to sell the virtues of a project to obtain financing.
- Know how to analyze the current state of tourism organizations in order to be able to propose the development of projects of interest:
- Learn how to evaluate the internal and external conditions of a tourism organization to be able to find opportunities to create new projects.
- Understand how projects work within the tourism sector:
- Demonstrate the importance of planning when working in project management.
- Understand the keys to risk management for tourism projects.

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The learning strategies employed are mainly aimed at the student developing the abilities associated with the skills identified. Below we specify the teaching-learning methodologies which will be applied to achieve the skills to be gained, as well as specifying how they will be developed:
- Theory: master classes, lectures, group projects.
- Theoretical-practical: application activities, problem-based learning, problem solving, practical exercises, research.
- Presentations: presentations of results. This will allow the student to receive feedback on how to improve his or her oral communication techniques and become accustomed to using information technology.

EVALUATION SYSTEM
The tools used to evaluate the course are those which allow us to assess the course's contents in both a theoretical and practical way; such as objective tests, development tests, individual projects, group projects, in-class activities, oral presentations using IT, virtual forums, portfolios, practical cases, problem solving, etc.