Master's Degree in Tourism Intelligence

The tourism sector has historically been a pioneer in introducing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The integral and integrated application of technologies in tourism destinations leads us to the concept of Tourism Intelligence, understood as the coherent and harmonious interrelation of the essential elements of tourism development and sustainability, using and taking advantage of ICTs. Tourism Intelligence means collecting and exploiting user-generated data to understand their motivations and needs, efficiently improving and adjusting supply to demand, and supporting strategic decision-making in a tourism destination and/or company. Tourism Intelligence is an excellent way to plan and manage tourism, achieving an overall and orderly development based on innovation, governance, accessibility, sustainability and connectivity.

The curricular development of the Master's Degree in Tourism Intelligence (MuInTur) is based on the principles of the Intelligent Tourism Destination (ITD) model proposed by the Valencian Institute of Tourism Research (INVAT-TUR), which has been adopted by the Secretary of State for Tourism (SEGITUR). To select the degree's competencies, the information gathered in the White Paper for a New Tourism Strategy for the Valencian Community, drawn up by the University of Alicante and with the participation of a large part of the business and academic ecosystem, has been taken into account. As a result of the conclusions, the Strategic Tourism Plan for the Valencia Region 2020/2025 has been developed.

Applying these concepts to higher education in tourism involves students, who are the beneficiaries of the resulting training, future professionals and prescribers, and even users, who, with their knowledge and application of these technologies, will be the motivators of structural changes in tourism companies and destinations. Knowing the different technological options and their tourism application is fundamental for these students, both to improve their training as well as for the contributions they can make to this sector.

The Tourism sector is the main economic engine of the Safor area, where the Campus of the Higher Polytechnic School of Gandia (EPSG) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) is located. Therefore, it is a very suitable environment to carry out the proposal for implementing MuInTur.

The main objective of MuInTur is to integrate technological solutions and tourism intelligence models for data collection, analysis and interpretation, which favour decision-making in a company or tourism destination. Holistically, it will deepen the knowledge of the main technological tools at the service of tourism companies and administrations regarding customer management, visitor control, access to resources, and promotion and marketing of tourism products and destinations. The aim is for students to understand and assimilate the whole process followed for tourism management through capturing and exploiting data, its processing and presentation for decision-making. All this will be approached from the basis of information management and analysis of their data obtained from clients and other external sources.

60 ECTS

The Master's Degree in Intelligence is structured around 3 modules:

• Compulsory Module. This module includes the 3 mandatory subjects of the master's degree:
  • TOURISM INFORMATION SYSTEMS (SIT). 12 ECTS
  • TOURISM INFORMATION ANALYSIS (AIT). 12 ECTS
  • TOURISM GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT (GGT). 18 ECTS

  The main objective of these 3 subjects is to address in a comprehensive and complementary way the technologies, tools and processes required to apply the concepts of Tourism Intelligence in tourism companies and destinations.

• Professional Development Module. Optional.. This module aims to bring future graduates closer to professional practice and deepen the acquisition of general competencies related to professional practice. It consists of 2 subjects:
  • INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT. 4 ECTS.
  • SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES. 2 ECTS.
  The student can also take part or all of these credits through an external internship.
• Master's thesis (TFM) Module. Mandatory. 12 ECTS

Bachelor's degrees in Economics and Social Sciences are considered the most suitable for this Master's degree, particularly in Tourism, Business Administration and Management and Double Degree in Tourism-Business Administration and Management.

The degree of reference used to design the curriculum is the Bachelor's Degree in Tourism taught at the EPSG of the UPV. This degree defines the basic competencies required to access the master's degree. The Master's Academic Committee will assess applicants with qualifications whose competencies differ from the above based on the subjects studied and evidence of ability and achievement.

Mainly, it is considered that all students entering the master's degree must have taken at least 12 credits in quantitative methods: univariate statistical inference, descriptive statistics, spreadsheets, etc.

The criteria and requirements for admission of students to the Master's Degree in Tourism Intelligence are as follows:

• Fulfilment of the requirements established in the official regulations (eliminatory requirement).
• Linguistic requirement: Spanish will be used as the vehicular language. International applicants from countries where Spanish is not an official language must certify their level of Spanish using official qualifications, accrediting their level of competence and command of the Spanish language. Specifically, a certificate accrediting level B2 of Spanish DELE or a certificate of equivalent level recognised by the Association of Language Centres in Higher Education (ACLES) will be required.
• It is considered that the degrees offered by Spanish universities directly related to Tourism and Business Administration and Management are the most suitable for access to this master's degree. Students who have a degree in TOURISM and also in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT (2 degrees) will be given preferential consideration for admission to the master's degree.

Weighting Criteria (up to 100 points): if the number of applications for admission exceeds the number of places offered, each of the above criteria will be weighted to establish a final assessment. For this purpose, those students who meet the requirements specified in the official regulations and hold a qualification appropriate to the master's degree will be considered. The weighting will be carried out based on the rest of the criteria as follows:

• Academic record. It will be assessed up to 50 points. The average mark of the record (out of 10) will be multiplied by a factor for the coefficient of the suitability of the access qualification. This coefficient will have a value between 2 and 5, depending on the degree with which the master's degree is accessed:
  • BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN TOURISM AND BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT (weighting factor 5)
  • BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN TOURISM (weighting factor 4)
  • BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT (weighting factor 3)
• Other Social Science degrees are similar to the reference degrees (weighting factor 2). In these cases, the suitability for access to the master's degree must be specifically assessed by the Master's Academic Committee. Their training will be evaluated concerning the curriculum of the original degree based on the subjects studied and the evidence of skills and achievement. Students must accredit the essential reference competencies to be admitted.
• Professional experience Accredited professional experience will be valued up to 25 points.
• Curriculum vitae. It will be valued up to 15 points.
• Motivation To assess this aspect, applicants must submit a motivation letter together with their pre-registration, specifying their interest in the subject of the master's degree, their professional links, if any, whether they intend to write a doctoral thesis at the end of the master's degree and any other aspect that the applicant considers appropriate. Motivation will be valued up to 10 points.

Different institutions and people related to the tourism sector have shown their support for the MuInTur proposal:

• Turisme Comunitat Valenciana (Turisme Comunitat Valenciana Regional Secretary of Tourism)
• Invat.tur (Director)
• Ayuntamiento de Gandia (Major)
• Urbalab (Director)
• La Safor Business Centre (President)
• Association of Hospitality Entrepreneurs (President)
• Beezhotels.com Revenue Mng.& E-commerce (Chief Operating Officer)
• Valencian Tourism Foundation (Managing Director)