Hospitality and tourism industry is one of the largest industries in the world. This introductory course provides students with an overview of hospitality industry and segments of travel and tourism. Students are introduced to career opportunities and skills needed to succeed in the specific hospitality and tourism fields. Students examine the growth and development of industry segments and their distinguishing characteristics, current issues and trends. Students will learn about the interdependence of the various industry players and the roles of these diverse participants within the industry. The concepts and practices of hospitality management are examined and discussed.

Events play an ever-growing role for individuals, organizations and communities or places/destinations at country, state, city levels. These entities stage a variety of events from birthdays, weddings, and festivals to conventions, trade expos and Olympics. This course examines unique design approaches and requirements of different personal, organizational and community events. Design knowledge and skills are a necessary to plan, execute and evaluate any type of event in an ever-changing industry. To respond to this complex demand, contemporary event planners must know how to interlink the process of purpose, people, and place (or venue) in diverse settings. This course incorporates venues and venue considerations into the design of events. Successful event production involves linking an event concept to design considerations such as entertainment, décor, audio systems, visualization, lighting systems, set design, tenting, and technical resources, are also addressed in this course. Beyond traditional event design and production, this course also focuses on broad skillsets such as experience personalization, social media platforms, chatbots, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

The meeting and event planner of today must know how to plan, execute, and evaluate any event to show value to the stakeholders. Meetings today help us celebrate meaningful events, change the way people behave, motivate employees to perform better, and solve problems by bringing together ideas from many different cultures. This course is designed to provide an introduction to the principles and concepts required for the management and execution of a successful event. Essential topics will include event planning, coordination, sponsorship, budgeting, programming, marketing, communications, vender management, volunteer management, risk management, event research, and event evaluation.

This course requires students to synthesize and build upon knowledge acquired in prior courses, engaging in a hospitality / tourism project. Students will draw upon existing available information, add to it their own research efforts, and consider various options before arriving at conclusions or solutions. Topics related to the strategic analysis of hospitality enterprises will be discussed.

This class provides the student an opportunity to explore the function of a convention from the point of view of the convention center manager. Consideration is given to various methods used to sell a location to an event planner and the servicing of large groups. Students also examine the various ways to evaluate floor and meeting space as to profitability and quality related to the goals and objectives of the client. Various forms of business are ranked and the ability of one convention to enhance a second are considered in the decision making process. Finally codes, regulations, and licensing considerations are explored.