Tourism and Sustainable Development APPLY Where Strategy Meets a Changing World DOWNLOAD BROCHURE Master in CHICA MASTER 2 fondo slide5 slide3

Research Excellence and International Recognition

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ULPGC | TIDES
#2 in the EU
Tourism & Hospitality
(Shanghai Ranking, 2025)

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UNESCO Chair
Tourism & Sustainable Development

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ShanghaiRanking
Global benchmark for research excellence

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European Union
European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness

What makes this Master different?

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Sustainability as Strategy

Turn sustainability into a strategic framework that balances environmental responsibility, economic resilience and long-term competitiveness.

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Neurotourism & Al Analytics

Home to the world’s first Neurotourism Laboratory, applying neuromarketing tools and Al-supported analytics to tourism decision-making.

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Career-Focused Pathways

Prepare for doctoral research, destination leadership, policy, advisory and innovative tourism entrepreneurship.

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Living Tourism Laboratory – The Canary Islands

Study in one of Europe’s most dynamic tourism ecosystems, with year-round
18~25°C climate, a thriving digital nomad hub and real-scale destinations for applied research.

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18-25°C climate year-round

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Thriving digital nomad hub

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Coastal sports & lifestyle

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Real-scale destinations

Research Excellence and International Recognition

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1 Year

Duration

credit 1

60

ECTS

idioma

English

Language

inicio

September

Intake

campus

ULPGC

Campus

scholarship8

Scholarships

Available

Programme Structure at a Glance

semestre1

Semester 1

Foundations of Sustainable & Strategic Tourism 

Core frameworks in sustainability, mobility, climate resilience and tourism systems.

Sustainable tourism and environmental management (6 ECTS- CORE)

  1. Sustainable tourism in a sustainable world.
  2. Sustainable tourism: an operational definition.
  3. Sustainable tourism modelling.
  4. Sustainable tourism planning and governance.
  5. The demand for sustainable tourism.
  6. Incentives for sustainable tourism supply.
  7. Sustainable tourism tools and indicators.
  8. Case studies on best practices in sustainable tourism.

Tourism behaviour: producers and consumers (6 ECTS-CORE)

  1. Behavioral science and economics: an introduction
  2. Models of tourism system behavior
  3. Tourism consumption models and behavior
  4. Tourism production models and behavior
  5. Behavioral policies
  6. Nudging
  7. Behavioral change
  8. Tourism change and evolution

Sustainable transport systems and mobility in tourism (6 ECTS-CORE)

  1. Transport greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.
  2. Tourism transport O/D mobility vs. mobility at destinations.
  3. The rationale for flying
  4. Access to the airports and egress from the airports
  5. Policy measures to mitigate the impact: from emission tradings to greener transport systems.
  6. The agenda for making air transport more sustainable.
  7. Green airports’ solutions. Environmental practices and carbon reduction initiatives.
  8. High Speed Railways. From competitive modes towards integrated solutions.
  9. Tourism transport mobility within the destinations: from rental and private cars towards mobility as a service solutions.

Tourism marketing and consumer behavior (6 ECTS- CORE)

  1. Tourism marketing
    • Introduction and concepts of marketing and marketing research
    • Strategic marketing analyses: Segmentation, positioning, branding
    • Tourism marketing mix analyses
    • Customer behavior in tourism, CRM and loyalty
    • Tourism experiences and user-experience
    • Integrated marketing communications
    • New trends in marketing and marketing research
    • Case studies on tourism marketing research
  2. Modelling and measuring consumer preferences in tourism
    • Theoretical framework for analyzing consumer preferences in tourism
    • Main data sources used in the analysis of consumer preferences
    • Introduction to discrete choice experiments
    • Steps for creating an experimental design
    • Elicitation of preferences
    • Estimation of preferences: probabilistic choice models
    • Willingness to pay for tourism products
    • Market shares, demand response and policy analysis
    • Applications and case studies

Managing human resources and sustainable innovation in the tourism industry (6 ECTS- CORE)

  1. Developing leadership and management skills
    • Entrepreneurial leadership management
    • Human resources staffing in Tourism organizations
    • Organizational culture and its impacts on human culture
    • Contemporary leadership
    • Managing diversity and driving organizational change
    • Equal employment opportunities
    • Motivation and job satisfaction
    • Team working and negotiation
    • Human resources in new Project
    • Applications and case studies
  2. Innovation in tourism
    • Types of innovation in Tourism
    • Understanding innovation from different perspectives
    • Potential challenges in social innovation
    • Tourism and hospitality in digital era: an overview
    • Sustainable innovation management
    • IT and value creation in tourism
    • Business opportunities with the IT innovations in Tourism
    • Applications and case studies
semestre2

Semester 2

Systems & Applied Research

Advanced analytical, research and innovation modules in tourism strategy and blue economy.

Quantitative methods in tourism (6 ECTS-CORE)

  1. Introduction to R
    • Data in R
    • Data wrangling
    • Basic statistics with R
  2. Visual exploratory analysis
    • One variable visualization
    • Multiple variables visualization
    • Editing documents in R
  3. Introduction to machine learning
    • Collecting data online
    • Regression models
    • Classification models
    • Text classification (Natural Language Processing)

Sustainable territorial development in tourism (6 ECTS-CORE)

  1. Ecological urbanism in the anthropocene era.
  2. Mobility systems in sustainable tourism
  3. Urban structural systems in sustainable tourism
  4. Open spaces systems in sustainable tourism
  5. Urban models in sustainable tourism
  6. Urban models in sustainable tourism ii: (business & commercial)
  7. Urban models in sustainable tourism iii: (city-port & research)
  8. Infrastructure systems in sustainable tourism

Choose 6 ECTS in optional courses (2 courses):

Digital tourism (3 ECTS – OPTIONAL)

  1. Digital economics
  2. Technology in the tourism sector: information systems, distribution systems, reservation systems, e-commerce, e-business, social media.
  3. Technological trends in tourism (e.g., AI, blockchain, extended reality and metaverse, web3, big data and open data, IoT)
  4. Digital trends in the tourism sector (e.g., sharing economy, smart destination)
  5. Digital transformation of the tourism industry

Natural assets in island tourist destinations (3 ECTS – OPTIONAL)

  1. Biodiversity
    • Diversity of species: land and sea.
    • Gradients of diversity.
      • Islands or insular systems
    • Conceptual approaches to biodiversity & conservation.
  2. Ecosystem diversity
    • Terrestrial ecosystems
      • Manglares
      • Marismas y saladares
      • Dune systems
    • Coastal & marine ecosystems
      • Coral reefs
      • Rocky reefs
      • Rhodoliths beds
    • Pelagic ecosystems
      • Sharks & rays
      • Whales & dolphins
      • Seals & manaties
      • Seabirds
  1. Biodiversity conservation.
    • Valorization of biological diversity.
    • Threats & pressures on biological diversity in island systems.
      • Climate change
      • Coastal transformation
      • Interactions with other human activities.
    • Tools to enhance biodiversity conservation.
    • National & international organizations.
    • Conventions & legal instruments.

Climate change in tourism (3 ECTS-OPTIONAL)

  1. Introduction to climate change
  2. Interactions between tourism and climate
  3. Impacts of tourism on climate
  4. Modeling tourism and climate
  5. Climate as a factor of production
  6. Tourists’ behaviour and climate
  7. Climate and competitiveness
  8. Climate change policies in tourism
  9. Tourists’s preferences for climate policies

Neurotourism techniques (3 ECTS-OPTIONAL)

  1. Introduction to Neuroscience
  2. From Neuromarketing to Neurotourism
  3. Neurotourism and Consumer Behaviour
  4. Neurotourism Lab and techniques
    • Biometric techniques (Eye-Tracking, Face Coding, Implicit Association Testing etc.).
    • Neurophysiological techniques (Electroencephalography (EEG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), etc.).
    • Virtual and Augmented Reality.
    • Integration of techniques and use of mixed methods in tourism.
    • Variables Tested: What to measure and how to get valuable data.
    • Experimental Design: Steps to properly design a Neurotourism study (objectives, sampling, data quality, insights, results).
    • Presentations: How to communicate Neurotourism results.
    • Ethics in Neurotourism Research
  5. Research Methods
  6. Case Studies

Master’s Thesis (12 ECTS)

  • Research-based thesis aligned with real tourism systems

Who Is This Master For?

icon pointGraduates seeking research-led, strategic training in tourism sustainability

icon point Professionals ready to lead destination transformation

icon point Future PhD candidates and academic researchers

icon point Entrepreneurs building data-driven tourism ventures

Where Can This Master Take You?

A strategic academic investment with long-term professional and research impact.

icon point Doctoral Research & Academia

Pursue PhD pathways and research careers in tourism sustainability and strategy.

icon point International Organisations

Work with global institutions shaping tourism policy and governance.

icon point Destination Leadership

Lead strategic and sustainable transformation in tourism systems.

icon pointGovernment & Policy Advisory

Advise public institutions on sustainable competitiveness and mobility.

icon point Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Build innovative tourism ventures informed by research and analytics.

Programme Information

Thanks to industry support, the programme offers 6 full-tuition scholarships. In addition, all admitted participants benefit from a highly subsidised tuition fee of only €768, reflecting the programme’s commitment to attracting top talent and shaping the next generation of leaders transforming the tourism industry.

Requirements:

  • Proof of pre-enrollment in the Master’s program
  • Updated CV, academic transcript, and motivation letter

Scholarship applications will open soon. Deadline to be announced.

  • Information will be available shortly.
  • Information will be available shortly.
  • Information will be available shortly.
Instituto Universitario de Turismo y Desarrollo Económico Sostenible
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