Learn to manage the provision and delivery of tours, ecotourism, event management

Elective Modules

In addition to the core modules, students study 3 chosen modules.

If you would prefer a module not in the recommended options, please contact and discuss with us. If it is relevant to your needs, it may well be possible.

Course Duration: 900 hours of self-paced learning

Learn to Organise People and Manage Resources

Tourism businesses are mostly about introducing clients to nature in a safe and controlled context. To do this properly often requires engaging and organising the right staff in a way that delivers a preconceived and well managed service. To do this requires learning - firstly for yourself as the tour manager; then for your tour guides in the context of each tour.

Staffing a Tourism Business

Many tourism businesses are considered micro-business.  That is they may be a one or two man business, or may employ casual staff seasonally while a few may employ a great many staff.  Like any business, the ecotourism operation will only be as good as its staff, and considering the unique positions that the ecotourism staff will occupy, it is one business where it is imperative that the staff employed are of the highest quality and reliability.

Job Descriptions  Hiring the Right Person

A well developed job description provides several functions:

• helps determine exactly what the role entails.  This will be developed by logical grouping of like tasks together
  
• assists with recruitment and identifying training needs
• reduces the risks of potentially discriminating against employees by have a clearly demarcated job outline and skill expectations
• reduces the risk of employing an unsuitable staff member
  
  

When preparing a job description there are four main factors (see sample below):

• the description of the actual job
• duties to be performed
• requirements to be met
• attributes that are desirable
  
  

Example of a Job Description

Lead extended trekking expeditions in the Himalayan Mountains (Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and India)

Duties include:  

• provide input into expedition planning and organisation
• organisation of all equipment required; including safety checks
• organisation of porters, catering and other arrangements as required in destination country
• provide pre-departure safety, environmental and travel education
• guide as required on treks
• provide group leadership as required including monitoring group dynamics, safety, health and wellbeing on trek

Requirements:

• in-depth knowledge of regions and trekking routes including cultural and geographical knowledge
• Wilderness First Aid
• Wilderness and Mountain Survival Skills
• Proven leadership skills
• Demonstrated customer service and interpretation skills

Desirable:

• Responsible and reliable attitude
• Hardworking and well organised
• Languages other than English

Develop local staff with training Versus Hiring Outside Employees

It may be difficult to find the right staff especially when hiring, particularly in remote areas or in other countries.  You will be faced with the choice of developing local staff which takes time or bringing in staff from other areas.  In some situations a combination will work where experienced non-local staff can be brought in to not only function as guides but to also provide training to local staff.  This in effect also satisfies the requirements of ecotourism to benefit the local communities.  

Accreditation/Certification 

Many areas of the industry are now providing certification and or accreditation for individuals such as Wilderness First Aid, Degrees in Tourism, Outdoor Education etc.  These provide an indication of a potential employee’s technical knowledge.  While this may be a critical point, there are many other ‘soft skills’ that are very important to the success of an ecotourism business.  To judge experience, leadership ability, personal attributes and interpersonal skills it will be best to rely on interviews.