Tourism Destination Management
Bachelor of Science
Next start date is January 15th. Applying is easy and free!
Create tourism experiences
that embrace social sustainability.
Explore the Tourism Destination Management program at Unity, where your passion for travel meets environmental consciousness. Regenerative tourism and travel is a groundbreaking approach aligning responsible business, social equity, public policy and environmental sustainability.
Whether you aspire to launch an eco-conscious travel business or work on impactful tourism projects that help repair the earth and repair ecosystems, you’ll be uniquely positioned to address critical issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and cultural preservation.
Join us to shape the future of travel, making it not just a personal adventure but a global force for good. Start your journey today!
Program Overview
To be sustainable, travel experiences must balance natural resource consumption with environmental protection, economic growth with destination resilience, and tourists’ experiences with local needs. Regenerative tourism can be a tool that promotes sustainable resource use while meeting local needs and visions for the future, creating a net positive benefit to the destination.
Destination developers seeking to use regenerative tourism as a tool must be familiar with tourism planning, project and people management, sustainable natural resource principles, visitor use trends, leadership, communication, and more. Learners in Tourism Destination Management will engage with content from the fields of business, economics, sustainability, development, and tourism and hospitality.
They will develop skills in data-driven decision-making, and project planning, design, management, and evaluation. Learners will explore how the tourism and hospitality industry is entangled within other industries (e.g., food systems, transportation), cultivate a set of best practices and project management skills useful for planning, evaluate current and future visitor trends to inform decision-making, understand the impacts of climate change to tourism (and tourism to climate change), and learn to balance local development, sustainable resource use, and economic security using regenerative principles.
Program graduates will be prepared to apply their skills in a variety of occupations, such as destination planners, tourism managers, and tourism coordinators.
- + One-on-one academic and professional advising as our world-class faculty and trained staff strive to make your professional and academic goals a reality.
- + Unity Environmental University is an accredited institution by New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).
- + Experiential Online. Experiential programs are delivered 100% online with fieldwork designed with the working professional in mind.
- + Study when and where you want and finish your degree while still working full-time.
- + Make professional connections with leaders in your field.
- + Get job placement assistance. Browse our online job board and use free tools through our career services.
- + Multiple start dates. Begin your program on your time. Choose from five year-round start dates.
- + Transfer friendly! We will accept up to 90 credits.
Experiential and Immersive Coursework
Tourism for Environmental and Social Sustainability
How can tourism be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development goals within a local area? In this course, students will examine best practices for tourism development, management, and evaluation procedures.
Global Supply Chain Operations: Greening Your Business
The web connecting suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers can be intricate. In this course, students will unravel the mysteries of global logistics, operations, and market strategies. Students will gain an understanding of the design, control, and operation of supply chains through the lens of sustainability management.
Minimal Impact Ecotourism
You can be a part of the solution and help preserve tourist destinations for generations to come. By delving into the core impacts of ecotourism on societies, economics, and the environment, students will gain a profound understanding of the challenges faced by these sensitive ecosystems.
Experts in the Field
At Unity Environmental University, our faculty is composed of a wide range of environmental science experts who in addition to teaching, conduct their own research and various fieldwork.
Dr. Lydia Horne
Subject Matter Expert
Originally from Maine, Lydia spent much of her childhood exploring the woods near her family home and hiking trails across the state. With this early exposure to the outdoors, she decided to major in conservation biology at St. Lawrence University.
After several seasons of fieldwork that involved gathering snowshoe hare pellets, observing wasp foraging behavior, getting stung by fire ants, and tromping through wetlands to collect insects, she returned to graduate school.
Lydia has her M.S. in forest resources and Ph.D. in ecology and environmental sciences from the University of Maine. Her primary research question asked how tourism is being impacted by climate change along the coast of Maine. She was a postdoctoral researcher in STEM education at the University of Northern Colorado where she studied how students learn complex content and skills (e.g., Food-Energy-Water Nexus, systems thinking) and helped develop a concept inventory to assess learning.
Lydia joins Unity with experience teaching courses on tourism and outdoor recreation, environmental studies, and human dimensions of climate change. She values an active, inclusive approach to teaching where learners of all identities can succeed. In her spare time, Lydia likes to read, go hiking, sew (poorly), travel, and hang out with her cat.
Small Class Sizes
At Unity Environmental University, we believe our students are not just a number. The value of small class size intimacy is just as important to us in our distance education program as it is in traditional classroom settings. We give the benefit of creating tight-knit communities where networking can flourish. By keeping our class sizes small, our faculty can dedicate their time to providing all one-on-one guidance when needed by a student.
Degree Requirements and Courses
The Tourism Destination Management degree requires 120 credits. You may transfer up to 90 credits from outside institutions. For more details, browse our Tourism Destination Management degree checklist. View our full course catalog for a better look into your program, then apply online for free to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How much does it cost?
Your online education should be affordable and manageable. Our team of distance education concierges will work with you through the admissions process to help you plan and pay for your degree. Learn more about the costs here.
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How fast can I finish?
It depends on whether you have credits earned from other institutions, whether you plan on taking one or two classes per term, and if you take a term off. Our distance education concierges and academic advisors are here to help you plan and stick to your educational goals. Talk to us today!
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What courses will I be taking?
For course requirements, view our full course catalog or the Tourism Destination Management program flyer for a better look into your program. Then apply online for free to get started.
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What is Tourism Destination Management?
Tourism Destination Management is about making tourism, including eco-tourism and adventure tourism, good for the environment and the people who live in tourist destinations. It focuses on making sure that when people travel, they don’t harm the places they visit. Instead, tourism helps local communities and protects nature. This way, tourism can be a positive force for everyone involved.
Career Outlook
Earn your degree.
Unlock new opportunities.
Sustainability Specialist jobs in the U.S., 2022*
Sustainability Specialist pay, 2022
Estimated U.S. job openings for Sustainability Specialists through 2032
Sustainability Specialist jobs in the U.S., 2022*
Sustainability Specialist pay, 2022
Estimated U.S. job openings for Sustainability Specialists through 2032
*Source: O*Net & U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unity Environmental University cannot guarantee employment. Salary data represents averaged earnings for the occupations listed and includes workers at all levels of education and experience.
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Last Updated on December 1, 2023
