Difference Between

Tourism Management vs Hospitality Management

According to experts, 21st century will be dominated by industries such as telecommunications, tourism and IT. Hospitality and tourism management are integral aspects of this industry where hospitality takes care of the accommodation needs of the tourists at hotels, restaurants, resorts, pubs and bars whereas tourism is a vast sphere of activity that involves everything from ticketing to conveyance in places of tourist attraction and arranging comfortable stay for the tourists and also arranging for entertainment. Though hospitality and tourism management are spoken of in the same breath and traditionally the two have been taught and studied by those who are desirous of being a part of this industry, of late the two courses have emerged as separate and distinct. There is a lot of difference between hospitality management and tourism management and this article intends to highlight features of both so that readers can accordingly join either of the two branches of study depending upon their chosen career.

Though tourism and hospitality are intricately linked with each other as tourism cannot do without hospitality, hospitality management prepares students to work in the field of catering and accommodation especially in hotels, resorts and even hospitals. On the other hand, tourism management focus on all activities that form the core of tourism and students can hope to work as travel agent, guide, and representatives of travel companies or managers in tourist companies.

Hospitality management is a course that is being offered separately by many management schools that are providing MBA courses as there are many who wish to study this field of management. Students are taught all the methods of hospitality that are essential to please the guests in a hotel or the patients who come to receive treatment for their ailments in hospitals. Though hospitality is a trait that is essentially required in tourism industry also, it is just a part of tourism management which encompasses activities beginning from devising packages for the tourists, selling them as tour operators, booking air tickets for passengers, arranging accommodation for tourists at different places, looking after their needs and in general ensuring that tourists get the most comfortable tour or vacation that they can get.

It is clear from this analysis that hospitality management focuses on just one aspect that is catering to the needs of guests in hotels, reports and hospitals, while tourism management is a broader term encompassing a range of activities that includes hospitality.