Tourism Communication

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION
Communication is one of the key tools in marketing operations; it represents a large part of a company’s investment and it is very directly related to the objectives of the company and its interaction with the market. Communication is essential in order to inform, persuade and remind consumers directly or indirectly of the products and services offered by companies; this subject aims to provide students with key skills to understand and effectively apply the most relevant tourist communication tools, as well as the effective management of the brand communication strategy.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Develop the entrepreneurship project using information and communication technologies.
2. Understand the key concepts for the creation of innovative tourist products and services and their marketing and communication, considering the dynamic and evolutionary nature of tourism.
3. Develop a project for marketing and communication of tourism products and services in all its phases and with the support of information and communication technologies.
4. Carry out in-depth work and synthesis of tourism companies and entities in their field of marketing and communication, from bibliographic sources (paper and online), including references in English and other foreign languages (French and / or German).
5. Analyze competitive strategies in tourism organizations and companies, especially in their communication and marketing tool.
6. Know the main communication techniques applicable to tourism organizations.

ACADEMIC CONTENTS
1. Marketing as a tool for decision-making in tourism business companies:
1.1. Marketing Plan
1.2. Strategic Marketing
1.3. Operational Marketing
2. Tourism communication: concept, tools and strategies:
2.1. The tourism communication plan
3. Offline communication Advertising, public relations, etc..
4. Online communication SEO, SEM, social media, etc..

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The learning methodologies planned for the subject combine a number of processes being the most remarkable the cognitive methods related to the comprehension of the principles of tourism and the global tourism system as well as the inclusion of a set of skills, mainly technical.
The activities and methodologies -both group and individual- designed for this subject are the following:
• Lectures
• Case studies
• Guided discussions
• Practical exercises
• Problem-based learning

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
The assessment system measures the student’s achievement of learning outcomes regarding the subject’s competences and contents. Students may choose continuous assessment or single assessment:
Continuous Assessment: the teaching-learning process is assessed by a continuous monitoring of the work done by the students throughout the course and a final individual examination. Students must attend classes in order to be assessed by continuous assessment. Single Assessment: for those students who cannot come to class regularly, they can choose to be assessed by single assessment. The teaching-learning process is assessed by means of the assessment of all activities and in-person individual examination at the end of the course.
To qualify for this form of assessment, students must apply within the first 15 days of the start of the course through the assessment section of Virtual Campus.

The assessment activities planning will be public for the students from the start.