Tourism Course

With Tourism fast emerging as one of the major job providing sectors, more and more educational institutions have come up with academic programmes in the field. Realizing the potential of the sector, the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady has drawn up a diploma programme in tourism with emphasis on history, cultural heritage and ecology of the State.

The aim of the course is to develop a critical knowledge of various aspects of tourism. The course focuses on the connection between tourism, society, history, culture and ecology. The diploma programme is divided into 32 credits consisting of seven modules and a project work in the relevant area. The duration of the course is one year. However, the student can take a maximum of two years to complete the programme.

The topics covered under the programme include foundation course in tourism, Tourism Development, Kerala History, communicative English, Tourism Management, Cultural heritage of kerala and Ecology and Tourism.

The areas taught for the foundation course include the historical evaluation and development of tourism sector and constituents of tourism industry. Students would be trained in tourism services and operations along with marketing and communication.

Students would also be given a clear idea of tourism policy and planning during the first phase of the programme. In the second module, the focus will be on tourism development. Topics like profiling of foreign and domestic tourists, guest-host relationship, guides and city tour will be covered. Care has been taken to give proper training in some of the important areas like how a guide should explain a town or a site of historic importance to the tourists.

The course has included details of tourist sites in the State along with the annual festivals and cultural programmes. The university authorities felt that the students opting for the tourism course should be equipped with all relevant information on the history of the State.

The third module focuses on the geographical features of the State, natural landmarks, rivers and lagoons and flora and fauna of the land. The historical background and important centers of attraction in the State are also covered in this module.

The course would also lay emphasis on improving the communication skills of students who aspire to make a career in the tourism sector. The module on Communicative English has been designed in a way to improve the proficiency in English by developing skills in reading, listening, and speaking.

Tourism Management is another area of study included in the programme. Topics like entrepreneurship and management; organizational theory, managements functions, financial operations and managerial practices in tourism would be covered in this module.

Lectures on music, visual and performing arts of Kerala, folk arts, architecture, festivals, and celebrations would be conducted in the sixth module of the programme. The University would make good use of its own its own resources in the area of culture and tradition while conducting the tourism course.

The module on ecology and tourism examines various approaches to tourism planning and development in the context of ecology and sociology. The admission to the diploma programme in tourism is based on an entrance test conducted by the university every year.

Courtesy The Hindu