After completing a BA(Hons) in Business Law, Hospitality & Tourism Management at Strathclyde, Samuel chose to continue his studies here with an MSc in Tourism Marketing Management. Here he tells us what he thinks of Strathclyde..
What made you take the programme? Why choose Strathclyde?
I decided to apply for MSc Tourism Marketing Management because I have a strong interest in the tourism sector and wanted to gain more professional knowledge on the marketing aspect of tourism, especially on tourist destination branding and marketing for tourism products. I also consider some of the modules in my Hospitality & Tourism Management Bachelor degree to be useful because they acted as a stepping stone for preparation and further enhanced my interest in this degree.
I chose Strathclyde Business School because it has a good reputation and is triple-accredited, which makes it outstanding in the higher education sector.
What has been your experience of the classes to date?
My experience of the classes has been great because the lecturers in the Marketing department are friendly and professional. They are eager to stimulate your mind to think of new ideas to promote tourist destinations of a city or country throughout the world. Further, the lecturers are willing to guide you through any challenges you encounter throughout the course because they want to ensure students understand the concepts thoroughly.
This postgraduate degree provides many valuable opportunities for you to participate in group projects or group presentations, which enhance your presentation and public speaking skills. These opportunities also help to strengthen your communication skills because you need to work with classmates from different backgrounds and it is crucial to have a good working relationship with classmates. As the schedule for this degree can become very busy, it is essential to have good time management skills, in order to meet assignment deadlines. Most importantly, a lot of coursework involves essay or report writing, so your writing skills will definitely have a huge improvement whilst studying this degree.
What are you looking forward to over the rest of your studies?
I am excited to start my research project in the summer months this year, which is about investigating event transportation methods and sustainability. Apart from that, I am glad that I have made some close friends from this degree and I hope we will become colleagues in the area of tourism marketing in the future.
Where do you see the course in fitting into your longer aspirations for study/career in the future?
The course definitely helped me to have a greater aspiration for a future career, especially for a destination marketing organisation because it equips me with the appropriate skills and knowledge to promote a tourist destination. The course also enriches your knowledge of target marketing and positioning, which enables you to develop a special product or service for potential visitors. Moreover, this postgraduate course even provides me with some inspiration to study a PhD degree in the tourism field in the future.
The MSc Tourism Marketing Management course is full of interesting classes.
Is there anything you would especially recommend about the course/classes so far?
The first one is "International Marketing Research" because you are going to discover the customer perception and the competitors' marketing strategies, which motivates you to think of creative ideas or strategies to create a unique selling point for the promotion of a product or service.
The second one is "Managing Tourism Resource" because it allows you to have a better understanding on the strengths and weaknesses of a tourist destination, so you can design appropriate marketing strategies to attract visitors from your target market.
The third one is "Destination Marketing Management" because it puts you into the position of destination marketer, and makes you think about the challenges between public and private sectors collaboration when trying to promote a tourist destination to a global extent.
What is it like to be a student at Strathclyde and in the city of Glasgow?
Being a postgraduate student in Strathclyde Business School is a wonderful thing because you will have opportunities to make friends from all over the world and use the facilities that are exclusive to postgraduate students, like the postgraduate computer labs and postgraduate student cafe.
As a student living in the city of Glasgow, you will never get bored because Glasgow is full of cafes, restaurants and bars, which are perfect for university students to relax and socialise with each other after classes. Glasgow is close to Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park, which acts as a secret garden for most students because it is a perfect place to go on a day trip or weekend trip to immerse yourself with the Scottish countryside.
What advice would you give to prospective students?
You should read the information on course content on the website, which provides the details on core classes and elective modules for the whole academic year. If you have a strong desire in the area of tourism marketing, don't hesitate to apply!
