Cultural and Heritage Tourism Management Programs in Canada
Cultural and heritage tourism is an emerging industry in Canada as well as across the globe. Modern travelers prefer to explore destinations that provide them a combination of learning and leisure. They want to experience distinct and authentic sense of places they visit.
Canada has a vast collection of cultural and historic places. However, the tourism industry is facing an acute shortage of professionals who have a thorough understanding of cultural and heritage sites in the country and can serve the growing segment of travel consumers expecting a more engaging genre of travel experiences featuring indigenous cultures and heritage.
Employers are keen on hiring professionals are able to contribute to this evolving transformation and ensure a high degree of customer satisfaction. Not only this, they also expect them to have hands-n experience in promoting and marketing tourism products, services and experiences, managing daily operations of a tourism organization, distributing accurate and detailed product knowledge and destination information to clients and applying accounting and financial knowledge and skills to the operations of a tourism organization.
Tourism Management Programs in Canada
In order to meet industry demand for travel and tourism professionals possessing in-depth knowledge in cultural and heritage tourism management, many Canadian colleges have introduced specialized programs in this field. Unfortunately, not all tourism management programs are affiliated.
Centennial College’s cultural and heritage management courses are accredited by UNWTO TedQual. The graduates of this program are prepared for rewarding careers in this growing segment of tourism industry whether they envision a career in Ontario’s tourism sector or with world-view potential.
The program provides students with an interdisciplinary learning approach and integrates the challenges in cultural and heritage tourism sector with operative essentials of the industry. The two-year course combines classroom learning and a cultural and heritage tourism field placement, helping students build strong theoretical foundation and gain hands-on experience.
During classroom lectures, the students are not only introduced to cultural and heritage tourism but they are also taught to apply cultural and heritage tourism principles and practices to contribute to this emergent transformation. They acquire knowledge in cultural tour planning, cultural and heritage facilities management, festival management and tourism marketing.
The placement component offers them an opportunity to work in a real-life setting, which helps them gain special skills and knowledge associated with this trade. Besides, it also gives them opportunity to establish professional networks that can help them seek employment upon course completion.
Career Options
As mentioned earlier, the career prospects in this field are bright. And in the coming years, they are expected to increase further. The graduates of this program van find employment with festival and event management companies, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, municipal governments, museums, major hotel chains and tourism organizations. They may also choose to study further and apply their credits towards a more advanced course in tourism management at the university.
Admission Requirements
In order to apply for post-secondary tourism management courses, the students need:
- Secondary school diploma or equivalent
- English Grade 12 C or University or equivalent
