What does the everyday working life of qualified tourism specialists HF look like?

Qualified tourism specialists HF work in travel and tourism agencies, in the hotel and catering industry, for airlines, in the leisure and event sector or generally in tourism-related service companies. Here they typically take on specialist and management tasks at lower to middle management level in practically all areas of tourism: consulting, sales, advertising, marketing, finance, administration and human resources. In smaller companies, they can also take over the management.

Depending on whether qualified tourism specialists HF are employed in the so-called "Domestic", "Incoming" or "Outcoming" areas, different tasks are on the agenda:

• In the "Domestic" area, they provide advice and organizational support for domestic guests, i.e. people living in Switzerland who wish to travel and take excursions here.
• In the "Outcoming" sector, tourism professionals are responsible for guests who wish to travel abroad. They introduce their customers to various destinations from all over the world, organize flights, accommodation or sell entire travel packages, typically in a travel agency.
• In the "Incoming" area, the focus is on international guests arriving from abroad. Here, tourism specialists are responsible for marketing and selling domestic tourism offers and regional leisure activities, for example. They can also work in an advisory capacity.

Electronic reservation and booking systems are an important tool in the everyday work of qualified tourism specialists HF, which they use to organize hotel rooms, safari tours or train and flight tickets for their customers, for example. With their excellent communication skills and knowledge of foreign languages, they act as intermediaries between customers, service providers and other relevant contacts, such as media representatives, authorities, etc. Furthermore, they carry out ongoing research into the current offerings in the tourism and leisure industry at their destinations and analyze, assess, evaluate and evaluate them, taking into account social, ecological, economic, technological and political factors as well as their personal experience.

In addition, qualified tourism specialists HF are active in conceptual and project management. Focusing on the interests and wishes of customers, they develop proposals for new tourism offers (product and pricing) or look for additional sales opportunities.

Target group and skills: Who is the HF degree course in tourism suitable for? What qualities and skills are required?

Studying at a university of applied sciences (HF) to become a "Tourism Specialist" is suitable for

• People with an upper secondary level qualification who are enthusiastic about the tourism and leisure industry and would like to gain a professional foothold in it.
• Ambitious professionals who are already working in the tourism and leisure industry and would like to demonstrate the knowledge they have acquired on the job and thus open up further career opportunities.
• Professionals with an upper secondary level qualification who want to reorient themselves and make a lateral entry into the tourism industry.

Tourism professionals should have the following personal qualities and skills:

• Flexibility and resilience
• Independent and reliable way of working
• Sense of responsibility
• Customer and service orientation and negotiating skills
• Winning, confident and professional demeanor
• Organizational skills
• quick comprehension
• Communication skills and foreign language skills
• Team and conflict management skills
• Interest in world affairs and foreign cultures, traditions, etc.

Requirements for admission to the HF degree course in tourism management

Admission to the HF degree course in tourism management is decided by the PET colleges.* As a rule, the following admission requirements apply:

• Secondary level II qualification (federal certificate of proficiency (EFZ), vocational baccalaureate, baccalaureate from a grammar school, degree from a technical or commercial secondary school)

And

• At least one year of practical work in the tourism and leisure industry or in a tourism-related field, unless the practical work is integrated into the course.

And

• Aptitude assessment: Passed entrance examination (written entrance examination or interview, in some cases there is a six-month probationary period). Commercial apprentices (EFZ), retail specialists (EFZ) and graduates of the commercial vocational baccalaureate can be admitted without an entrance examination (they will be credited with 1800 hours of previous vocational training)

Possible further conditions:

• Depending on the training model, a relevantPractical activity of at least 50% during the course of studyis required. Students who are unable to provide proof of work experience in tourism at the end of their studies will only receive their diploma later, once they have gained sufficient work experience.
• Note: Some schools also requirePrevious knowledgein the foreign languages English, French or Spanish, in finance and accounting and in computer science. Many schools offer corresponding preparatory or refresher courses, which must be completed either before or in the first semester of the course. If no preparatory courses are offered by the school, appropriate certificates (e.g. the ECDL Base Certificate in Computer Science) may have to be completed.

* The courses offered by the universities of applied sciences (HF) are based on framework curricula that have been jointly developed by education providers and industry associations and approved by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The universities of applied sciences must adhere to existing framework curricula when designing the details of their courses. The HF courses are then federally recognized and lead to a protected title.

Subject matter and content of the training

The universities of applied sciences have a certain amount of leeway in the design of their courses for prospective tourism specialists. The course content covered and structure can therefore vary from college to college. In principle, however, all HFs follow the "Tourism" framework curriculum of 11.08.2020. The sponsors of this framework curriculum are the Swiss Tourism Association (STV), the Swiss Travel Association (SRV) and the Swiss Association of Colleges of Tourism (IG-HFT Schweiz).

As a rule, the HF Tourism degree program includes the following subjects:

• Tourism
• Marketing/Sales
• Communication/PR
• Economy
• Management
• Languages
• Law
• Human resources, etc.

Some schools also offer electives or specialization subjects.

Costs and financing of further training

The costs vary depending on the provider, training location and training model. In general, the following costs can be expected for the 4-6 semester HF course:

• Course feesbetween CHF 12,000 and CHF 18,000 for students resident in the training canton*. The costs for the examinations and diploma thesis are usually included in the course fees. Some providers also include the issue of the student ID card and the MS Office 365 license during the course.
• Additional costsSome providers charge extra costs for teaching materials, training documents, exam repetitions or expenses during any excursions and seminars abroad. Find out directly from the provider of your choice what additional costs you can expect.
• Acquisition of additional qualificationsFor additional qualifications such as language diplomas, examination/diploma fees of CHF 150 to CHF 500 are to be expected.

*Courses at universities of applied sciences are financially supported by the cantons. The following requirements apply in order to receive cantonal funding:

• at least two years of residence in the canton (students from outside the canton pay higher tuition fees)
• The course is on the list of eligible courses, which can be viewed on the website of the EDK (Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education).

Duration of study, number of lessons, training model and learning effort

• Duration of studyThe HF degree course in tourism is modular in structure and lasts 4 to 6 semesters, depending on the provider and training model.
• Number of lessonsThe course comprises a total of 5,400 learning hours (on average, 1,800 learning hours count as one year of training). Learning hours include attendance time, time for independent learning, individual work, group work, events, learning assessments and qualification procedures as well as time to put what has been learned into practice and supervised internships. For students with an EFZ in retail trade, a commercial EFZ or a commercial vocational baccalaureate, the scope is reduced by 1800 to 3600 learning hours. It is up to the schools to decide how to divide up these learning hours.
• Training modelsThe program is offered as a part-time or full-time course, with or without an integrated internship year.
• Teaching formatMany schools offer a mix of face-to-face and online courses (online, hybrid teaching, blended learning).
• Learning effort: You should allow sufficient time to prepare for and follow up the lessons and for self-study - how much depends on your prior knowledge, working style, learning speed and chosen training model. We recommend that you allow at least 4-6 hours per week for the part-time model.

Degree, diploma and title

The degree course in tourism (HF) concludes with an examination, which is generally based on the results of the precedingSemester examsand aDiploma thesisis composed. In some HFs, the thesis must be presented to a group of experts and defended in a discussion.

The schools are responsible for conducting the examination. At some schools, the diploma thesis is written after the subject lessons in the last semester, at others during the subject lessons.

In the diploma thesis, candidates have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and networked thinking. They write their thesis in individual or group work on a topic relevant to the tourism and leisure industry.

Diploma and title

Graduates of the course receive an HF diploma and are entitled to use the federally recognized and protected professional title "Certified Tourism Specialist HF".

• In French: "Gestionnaire en tourisme diplômée ES / Gestionnaire en tourisme diplômé ES"
• In Italian: "Specialista turistica dipl. SSS / Specialista turistico dipl. SSS"
• In English (recommended by SERI, but not a protected title): "Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Tourism Management"