Hardly any other industry has been hit as hard by the coronavirus crisis as the tourism industry! But thanks to rapid tests, vaccinations and rising temperatures, the incidence figures are also melting away. We are seeing progressive easing of restrictions everywhere and the tourism industry is also recovering. Fully booked hotels and fully occupied restaurants show that the Germans' desire to travel is unbroken!

Even before the crisis, more than 1.5 billion tourists were traveling worldwide every year. And the trend is rising. Even the pandemic could only give this upward trend a brief respite. The figures are now soaring to new heights and the crisis is giving an enormous boost to domestic tourism in particular! Current forecasts make it clear: vacation trips are still the second most important consumer priority for the German population! Right now, we need good, well-trained academics to enrich the industry with their know-how and fresh ideas. In order to accommodate this ongoing trend, the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has created new capacities and abolished the NC for the Tourism Management course without further ado. The aim is to enable even more students to enter this growth industry with a future and to actively counter the shortage of skilled workers in the tourism industry, particularly in Saxony and beyond.

In addition to the hotel industry, gastronomy and tour operator management, the Bachelor's degree course in Tourism Management also deals with digital transformation, targeted marketing and, of course, the important business and legal fundamentals.

The opening excursion to the "Lausitz Lake District" brings the first-semester students into contact with the renaturation and touristic reuse of residual open-cast mining sites. In the "Marketing" module, creativity and industry knowledge are then required throughout the course. Using real examples, a marketing strategy is developed and pitched for practical partners. However, a contemporary website is also part of the concept and the experience is further deepened in the "E-marketing" module. In the fourth semester, students look forward to a practical semester. Whether at home or abroad - the options are varied and students can get to know all facets of the tourism industry. Of necessity, however, students have recently dedicated themselves primarily to domestic tourism.

Luisa Reichelt (4th semester Tourism Management) went straight to Görlitz and works for the local inflatable boat rental company "Boats&Friends", which organizes boat trips on the Neisse as well as beach parties and city tours in the "Görliwood Entdecker". There is a lot to do at the German-Polish company:

"I help with the bookings and coordination of Boats & Friends and the Görliwood Explorer, take care of running the boat trips, marketing via social media and the newsletter. I also often have to answer customer inquiries over the phone. I also write scripts for new projects and the website. I also take care of creating events to help market Boats & Friends."

Verena Nowatzky (4th semester Tourism Management) also raves about her experiences with "Green Line Hotels", a booking platform for sustainably certified hotels:

'My tasks are very varied. I look after various social media channels, [...] write blog articles for the [...] website [and] do research for a guidebook for companies in the tourism industry. [...]"

Verena even already has a topic for her internship and is working on promising topics:

"My internship position wants to open a "Green Academy" where tourism companies can expand their knowledge about sustainability in seminars, lectures and workshops. My job is to design this by defining the target groups and topics, developing proposals for marketing and costs and using best practices as a comparison."

Sustainable companies such as "Green Line Hotels" are becoming increasingly important in the industry. These topics are naturally also incorporated into our modules on an interdisciplinary basis.

It is not only global warming and the associated urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions that require the industry to make drastic changes in order to set the course for sustainable tourism.

The issue of global warming has us firmly in its grip. In this context, tourism is repeatedly cast in a negative light - travel is harmful to the climate, flights and cruises are almost unacceptable. But what are the alternatives? A vacation on a balcony forever? No, because we want to continue our cultural education and get to know other countries, cultures, landscapes and people. Overcoming borders to be able to think outside the box - all this also promotes an open world view!

We need sustainable solutions that resolve existing contradictions. One possibility is gentle tourism, which has as little impact as possible on the natural environment we visit, but still allows us to experience nature up close, intensively and in its original form. We need offers that adapt to the culture of the country we are visiting and promote cultural exchange.

Our graduates can face these diverse challenges and more with courage and creativity and contribute to change! Our Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes address topics such as sustainability and digitalization in an interdisciplinary way and work in a solution-oriented manner with their finger on the pulse of the times.

Alexandra Liebich (6th semester Tourism Management) is just one example. She is dedicating her Bachelor thesis to a

"Feasibility study of an urban reusable deposit system for Görlitz restaurants" and wants to find out "which system is the best solution for Görlitz restaurateurs from a technical, organizational, legal and sustainable point of view".

We are looking forward to the results and hope to be able to enjoy our food and drinks to-go even more sustainably soon!

But it is not only our Bachelor's degree courses that deal with these topics in detail. Our Master's students such as Jonas Gerlach (Master's in International Tourism Management) are also convinced:

"NO TOURISM WITHOUT SUSTAINABILITY! :D I think this [conveys] [...] an insight into how important this topic has become.
Sustainability and digitalized work are firmly anchored in our way of thinking. These aspects are forward-looking and tourism is not possible in the long term without these ideas. Innovative and new course content (e.g. design thinking, sustainable corporate planning, international development cooperation, etc.) gives these factors their place in the course."

Nadine Flügel (Master's in International Tourism Management) also confirms this:

"[Both digitalization and sustainability] are very well integrated. Both are overarching topics that are repeatedly addressed in lectures or discussions."

Since the coronavirus crisis brought face-to-face teaching to a halt, new online teaching formats have also been offered at the HSZG and the digitalization of the university has accelerated immensely. This also offers great advantages outside of the pandemic.

"By switching to digital teaching, we were able to follow and hold lectures and discussions with various speakers from all over the world." (Nadine Flügel)

In the "International Development Cooperation (IEZ)" module, students benefit in particular from the new possibilities. In various online guest lectures, they talk about German development cooperation or current projects in developing countries.

Because(Nadine Flügel)

"Tourism is an important building block as a growth engine in developing countries. However, sustainable development requires cooperation and consideration of several different areas (e.g. the local population, protection of biodiversity, etc.)."

The module also includes a simulation game, which Jonas Gerlach is particularly looking forward to:

"The simulation game [...] gives us the opportunity to take over the organization in a village in Mali and work there according to the IEZ's specifications. We are very excited about it, the haptic simulation games have always brought a very high added value for the students so far."

With this mixture of theory, excursions and practical components, students are prepared in the best possible way for their career entry.

So what are you waiting for? Apply now and embark on your very own journey! You can rely on it: the phrase "study where others go on vacation" is no coincidence!