Hospitality Economics - GCC

“An application of managerial economics to the tourism and hospitality industry. Topics include industry cost ratios and pricing practices in accommodations, event planning, and food and beverage operations.” Background In 2004, then-Congressman John Olver initiated a series of discussions in Franklin County in an effort to build capacity to increase tourism and tourism revenues in the region. Simultaneously, the Business Department offered a one-time special topics course in Tourism Economics, with a focus on inventorying support facilities and networks for tourism in the area. Twelve students traveled to Martha’s Vineyard, meeting with officials representing regional planning, transportation, and business groups representing accommodations, food & beverage, and entertainment sectors. They applied their findings to the Greenfield area as a final class project. Subsequently, figures from the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics identified the tourism and hospitality sector as a growth sector in western Massachusetts, the Business Department responded by developing a new Tourism and Hospitality Liberal Arts A.A. Option, and, subsequently, a Certificate in Hospitality and Tourism. The Department met with the Culinary Program at Franklin County Technical School in order to plan for a direct pathway from that high school, through GCC, and into a Bachelor’s degree program. In addition to creating a basic Introduction to Tourism course as foundational to both the A.A. degree and Certificate, the Department sought to re-visit the areas covered in the 2004 Special Topics course, and develop a permanent Economics of Tourism course to be required within the curricula of both. Content & Delivery: Initial Offering The initial course, as approved by GCC’s Curriculum & Academic Policy Committee and with the assistance of the DOL grant, was an upper-level course titled ECO 212 Economics of Tourism. The course description was: “An application of economic principles to the tourism and hospitality industry. Topics include demand for leisure activities, industry structure, and the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the tourism industry on host communities.” [Note: the above course description has been significantly altered as a result of the experiences with this initial offering.] Students were permitted to enroll as long as they had taken one of the following three prerequisite courses: BUS 112 Introduction to Tourism or ECO 101 Principles of Macroeconomics or ECO 102 Principles of Microeconomics The course was delivered to a class of eight students for the first time in the Spring of 2013; the syllabus, including course objectives for that delivery is attached. Findings from the Initial Offering: During the course of the semester, faculty continued to review the efficacy of the course as designed with other Business faculty and with the students themselves, all of whom had specific career goals in mind within the hospitality industry. While course objectives were met and students acquired subject-area knowledge, the following weaknesses were revealed: 1. By permitting some students to enroll with prerequisite economic courses and others to enroll with an Intro to Tourism prerequisite instead, students’ understanding of basic economic concepts varied widely, making it difficult to present certain economic concepts at a level that was appropriate for all. 2. The text chosen, while well-known in its field, was outdated and more ‘global’ in focus than students’ expectations. Supplemental material from more contemporary texts tended to be advanced and difficult for the class. 3. The examination of the Miossec Matrix, while an appropriate foundation for global tourism development studies, was not seen as practical for many of the students’ stated needs. In fact, much material in the course emphasized social impacts on host communities; in fact, the first course objective was for students to be able to “Describe the impacts that tourism has on the economic and social structures of host destinations.” Content and Delivery: Revised Version Based on the findings above, it was decided to revisit the course design to better match the needs of employers, and of students seeking local employment. In short, it was decided to rewrite the course description; change the course level from 200 to 100; eliminate prerequisites; remove global development topics from the course (and insert them into a different course in the department that addresses the impacts of globalization); and emphasize pragmatic skills in specific sectors of the tourism & hospitality industry to equip students with practical skills sets. The new course description: ECO 112 Hospitality Economics “An application of managerial economics to the tourism and hospitality industry. Topics include industry cost ratios and pricing practices in accommodations, event planning, and food and beverage operations.” Objectives are as follows: As a result of mastering the topics in this course students will be able to: Rather than utilize a textbook, a vast number of industry organizations maintain current websites that provide instruction and worksheets on these topics. Some of these include: National Restaurant Association http://www.restaurant.org/News-Research/Research/Operations-Report The Restaurant Numbers Workbook : http://www.restaurantowner.com/RN_1.pdf American Hotel and Lodging Association http://www.ahla.com/content.aspx?id=3144 and http://www.ahla.com/uploadedFiles/AHLA/Members_Only/_Common/technology_primers_pdf/88119NEI02ENGE.pdf The Event Leadership Institute http://www.eventleadershipinstitute.com/course-details-Event-Planning-How-Much-to-Charge-White-Paper.aspx More traditional, hard-copy books are also available, such as Restaurant Financial Basics by Raymond S. Schmidgall, David K. Hayes & Jack D. Ninemeier through Wiley & Sons Integration into the Curriculum The revised course descriptions and objectives were submitted to, and approved by, the GCC Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee. The newly revised course is required in the Tourism and Hospitality Certificate and the Tourism and Hospitality Management Liberal Arts A.A. Option. In addition, as a 100-level course, it will now be available to non-matriculating students, and will now readily satisfy the special interest elective requirement in the Entrepreneurship Certificate.
Date:
2013
Primary Material Type:
Syllabus
Institution:
Greenfield Community College
Project Name:
Transformation Agenda
Funding Source:
TAACCCT Round 1

Industry / Occupation

Industry Partner:
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Industry Sector:
Finance and Insurance (52)
Occupation:
Business and Financial Operations Occupations (13-0000)

Education / Instructional Information

Instructional Program:
Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services (52)
Credit Type:
  • Credit
Credential Type:
  • Associate Degree
Educational Level of Materials:
  • 1st year Community College or equivalent
Interactivity Type:
Presentation only - requires user to navigate through content.
Quality of Subject Matter was assured by:
  • Other
Quality of Online/Hybrid Course Design assured by:
  • None

Copyright / Licensing

Primary License:
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.