Master of Arts in Destination Management

The Destination Management (DSTM) Master of Arts program, offered entirely at our location in Florence, Italy, is grounded in connection and service to the local communities of Florence (and the larger region of Tuscany). DSTM represents a novel response to growing needs within global travel and tourism industries and the communities impacted by our globalized and hypermobile world. Many local communities within Florence, and especially the vulnerable, marginal, and underserved, are suffering from the negative impacts of current tourism models and marketing practices. This program aims at developing adaptable graduates, prepared to innovate with global reach through a multidisciplinary approach and a practical skillset-focused curriculum, founded in community connection and place-based experiential learning. This program addresses the concerns and questions presented by destinations such as Florence that require innovators in strategic interventions, practices, planning, and policy that prioritize the flourishing of all humans, nonhuman, and environmental interest-holders. The community-engaged and project-based curricular structure of this program establishes a strong foundation for DSTM graduates to enter and positively contribute to this emerging global field, gaining skills that travel well beyond Florence.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization states that “Destination management consists of the coordinated management of all the elements that make up a tourism destination… [and] calls for a coalition of many organizations and interests working towards a common goal.” This novel field has developed in part out of a growing backlash to the “business as usual” models of “destination marketing” and tourism management. Standard approaches in travel and tourism are seen to be part of what has created global hotspots of overtourism, hit-and-run tourism, honeypot tourism, and other models identified as contributing to socioeconomic, cultural, and civil unrest for local, migrant, and other vulnerable and mobile populations and demographics. Through a robust commitment to social, cultural, and environmental justice, promoting the dignity of the human person, care for the poor and vulnerable, care for the planet, and cultivating the educational value of cura personalis, DSTM graduates gain an embodied practice of ethical discernment in every step of their learning experience.

The curricular structure requires students to pick one of three paths for their Capstone Practicum:

1) Internship – students must complete an internship

2) Community Service – students must complete a community service project

3) Intensive Research – students must complete a research paper.

Fall courses have no prerequisites, whereas required courses from the Fall term serve as prerequisites for the Spring Term courses. Required courses from both Fall and Spring Term are prerequisites for the Summer Term Capstone Practicum. The DSTM 613 – Internship Community Project course serves to meet the program requirement that all students complete some form of community service, regardless of their chosen path. For students on the Internship or Community Service path, the DSTM 613 course can facilitate students beginning their planning for the Capstone Practicum while participating in the community-engaged learning process.