Bachelor of Travel and Tourism Management (BTTM)

Introduction

Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for any purpose not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited. The multifaceted nature of tourism brings together several actors in transportation, destination management, attractions development and management, tour operations, souvenirs and local communities among others. All of these actors work together, directly and indirectly to meet the ever changing and increasing needs of tourists.

Tourism is currently the world’s largest and fastest growing sector, with over 1.2 billion international arrivals and earning the global economy over US$1.3trillion directly. The sector has proved over decades to be resilient against shocks of economic, political and social nature and continues to impact strongly on many economies, both developed and developing.

Projections for up to 2030 all indicate a positive growth trend for the sector. In Uganda, the industry has enjoyed an annual growth rate of over 20% since the turn of the century to become Uganda’s biggest foreign exchange earner. The sector offers significant incentives and opportunities for natural resource conservation, rural poverty alleviation and job creation, for both youths and women. However, harnessing these opportunities depends strongly on the quality of the manpower along the entire value chain at the national and subnational levels. Such human resource is developed through focused training at strategic, managerial and technical levels.

Tourism is different from travel. In order for tourism to happen, there must be a displacement: An individual has to travel, using any type of means of transportation (He or She might even travel on foot: nowadays, it is often the case for poorer societies, and happens even in more developed ones, and concerns pilgrims, hikers …). But all travel is not tourism.

Career prospects

The Travel and Tourism sector is one of the fastest growing industry in Uganda and worldwide.   The sector is dynamic and continues to pose challenges with the ever-changing needs, providing new opportunities in the market. Several Leisure and Hospitality facilities, such as Hotels and Leisure, and Recreation centers which are catered for by the graduates of Bachelor of Catering and Hotel Management and Bachelor of Leisure and Hospitality Management respectively. The Bachelor of Leisure and Hospitality Management graduates are trained to handle the management of leisure facilities like recreation centres, the MICE sector and customer service which is common to all.

The sector of Travel particularly the Airline Industry and the tour and travel agencies and the tourism sector continue to face the challenge of trained manpower to respond to the increasing growth and demand for the services therein. This has created need for Management training to address the industry’s specific needs.  The Bachelor of Travel and Tourism Management aims therefore to impart Management and entrepreneurial skills to create manpower that will fill the gap of lack of manpower with management skills to turn around the Travel and Tourism sector in Uganda.

BTTM Programme structure

Electives (Choose any one)