Visitor Attraction and Resort Management

Get into the booming travel and tourism industry through our unique degree focused on visitor attraction and resort management. This course offers a deep insight into how major attractions operate as businesses, preparing you for a wide range of roles in the visitor economy.

Applications will open for our September 2026 start date shortly.

Britain’s travel and tourism sector is worth over £100 billion and includes everything from hospitality and accommodation to cruises, events and even space travel. It also includes specialist areas such as marketing, HR and consumer behaviour.

This course offers a blend of academic study and practical experience. You’ll complete 250 hours of work placements across your first and second year at a tourism venue of your choice - from heritage sites to wildlife attractions. These placements bring your studies into a real-life context and help you build valuable industry experience.

Throughout your time on the course, you can expect guest speakers from across the sector, study visits and creative assessments such as blogs, business plans and mystery shopper-style evaluations. This degree - the first of its kind in the UK - is designed to equip you with the skills, insight and confidence to thrive in the fast-paced world of visitor attraction and resort management.

On successful completion of study, we will issue the following award: BA (Hons) Visitor Attraction and Resort Management

Duration

University of Staffordshire undergraduate courses are usually 3 years for full-time study.

Courses which offer other study options have longer durations:

Full-time with a placement year, 4 years
Full-time with a foundation year, 4 years
Part-time, 4-9 years

Work placements

Work placements are built into the course, and you will be expected to complete a total of 250 hours across your first and second year.

You can choose where you do your work experience, allowing you to tailor it to your interests. This could involve working at a heritage site, wildlife attraction, theme park or other visitor-focused venue.

Placements typically include opportunities to explore different departments such as ticketing, customer service, retail, attractions, general admissions, partnerships and family-focused areas. These experiences help you develop a broad understanding of how visitor attractions operate and prepare you for supervisory roles and career progression.

Course content

The Visitor Attraction and Resort Management course gives you practical experience, skills, and knowledge of the business environment, operations, and management. We also have links to professional bodies, including The Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE), to enhance your employment prospects.

In your first year, you’ll explore topics such as managing the customer experience, hospitality and hotel management, and conference and events management. In the second year, you’ll study marketing and digital communications, health and safety, and the legal and liability aspects of running a business.

Your final year focuses on core management functions and contemporary issues. You’ll look at how businesses are adapting through augmented and virtual reality to create hybrid visitor experiences.

You’ll also take part in a creative enterprise module, where you’ll develop a business plan and pitch your own visitor attraction concept. To round off the course, you’ll complete a consultancy project working with a real business, and showcase your work at GradEX, our final year show.

All tutors bring extensive industry experience into the classroom, meaning you’ll graduate with flexible, transferable skills and be ready to step into the visitor economy with confidence.

Modules

The tables provide an indicative list of the modules that make up the course for the current academic year. Each module is worth a specified number of credits. Our teaching is informed by research, and modules change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline. We aim to ensure that all modules run as scheduled. If for any reason a module cannot be run we will advise you as soon as possible and will provide guidance on selecting an appropriate alternative module.

Year 1 compulsory modules
Year 1 compulsory modules
Conference And Events Management	20 credits
Hospitality And Hotel Management	20 credits
Managing The Customer Experience	20 credits
Placement 1	20 credits
Professional Skills	20 credits
The Visitor Attraction And Resort Management Business Environment	20 credits

Year 2 compulsory modules
Year 2 compulsory modules
Business Development	20 credits
Finance And Revenue Management In The Leisure Industry	20 credits
Marketing And Digital Communications	20 credits
Placement 2	20 credits
Visitor Attraction And Resort Management - Operations And Legal Liability	20 credits
Visitor Attraction And Resort Management - Sustainability, Society And Impact	20 credits

Year 3 compulsory modules
Year 3 compulsory modules
Aspirational Leadership	20 credits
Consultancy/Management Project In Specialism	40 credits
Contemporary Issues In Tourism And Events	20 credits
Creative Enterprise	20 credits
The Management Of People	20 credits

Entry requirements

UCAS Points: 112 - 120

We understand that you might have experienced a challenging run up to higher education and may have not met the entry requirements as listed. If this is the case don’t worry, contact us and our team of expert advisors can guide you through the next stages of application, or help you find the perfect course for your needs.

Facilities

The Den

Everyone needs a space to relax, wind down, and take a break from study, and we have just that. In our den you'll find all the things you need to help chill you out including lockers, comfy booths, food prep space and more. Read more

The Den includes:

Lockers to store your personal items
Comfy booths to sit, chat and eat in
Electrical sockets to plug in your devices
Wireless pads that charge the latest smartphones
A prep area for food and drinks
Fridges to keep snacks in
Low, soft seating for kicking band and unwinding

View virtual tour

Digital Loft

A cross between a digital and natural environment, the Digital Loft brings the outside in with new and dynamic teaching spaces, state-of-the-art facilities and workstations, and a Reload retro gaming café with innovative touch-screen tables. Read more

Teaching and collaboration zones for all subject areas, a dedicated presentation space, a downtime reflection quiet area known as ‘Recharge’ and a faith room. This area of campus also houses the academic staff and student support teams, as well as a number of bookable meeting spaces for all. Fully integrated virtual conferencing is embedded throughout, and there are private pods for all to use for work or online meetings.

View virtual tour

Reload Café

‘Reload' is the showpiece retro-gaming café with innovative touch-screen tables to order your food and drink as well as get live updates on activities and events as well as being able to play games whilst socialising.

Careers

This degree will develop both your business and management skills, alongside practical experience in the visitor economy. Graduates can go on to a wide range of exciting career opportunities.

The visitor attraction and resort management sector includes theme parks, zoos, museums and heritage sites. Other major employers include hotels, holiday parks and accommodation providers, as well as the conference and events management sector.

You may also choose to specialise in more technical roles. Many visitor attractions now use mobile apps, virtual tours and immersive technologies to enhance the guest experience, opening up opportunities in digital tourism and innovation.

Some graduates even go on to launch their own businesses, using the entrepreneurial skills developed throughout the course.

All students have access to Career Connect, our dedicated careers team.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

You will be taught via a combination of lectures, tutorials, industry visits and independent study. You will use resources including books, journals and digital databases, social media resource banks and more to immerse yourself in each discipline and you will be challenged to picture what the business landscape of the future will be.

Seminars enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures in smaller groups. In addition, you will have timetabled meetings with your academic mentor at least twice a year. You will be taught in first-class learning spaces throughout your course. Many of our courses are accredited or recognised by professional, statutory or regulatory bodies.

Assessment

There is strong focus on coursework that prepares you ensures you are industry ready after graduation. Your course will provide you with opportunities to test your understanding of your subject informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark. Each module normally includes practice or ‘formative’ assessments, for which you receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades you receive for them do not count towards your module mark. There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module. This includes a range of coursework assessments, such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations, an independent project and written examinations.

Learning support

In addition to the excellent support you will receive from your course teaching team, our central Academic Skills team provides group and one-to-one help to support your learning in a number of areas. These include study skills (including reading, note-taking and presentation skills); written English (including punctuation and grammatical accuracy); academic writing (including how to reference); research skills; critical thinking and understanding arguments; and revision, assessment and examination skills (including time management).

Additional support

Our Student Inclusion Services support students with additional needs such as sensory impairment, or learning difficulties such as dyslexia.

Feedback

The course will provide students with opportunity to test their understanding of your subject informally before they complete the formal assessments. Each module normally includes practice or 'formative' assessments for which they receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades they receive for these do not count towards your module mark. There is a formal or 'summative' assessment at the end of each module and the grades from formal assessments count towards your module mark. Students will normally receive feedback on coursework assessments within 20 working days following the date of submission. Examination feedback may take a variety of formats. However, as a minimum, generic feedback will be made available to all students who take written examinations.

Staff

Amanda Payne

Senior Lecturer

Amanda is an active researcher and Course Leader for the FdA Visitor Attraction and Resort Management. She is working towards A PhD and is currently researching poverty alleviation through art and cultural tourism in Cambodia.

Amanda's profile

Frances-Marie Hitchen

Lecturer

Fran is a lecturer in Visitor Attraction and Resort Management, Business Management (Tourism & Events) and Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeships and has vast industry experience enabling her to provide real life industry knowledge.

Frances-Marie's profile

Fees

UK and Channel Island students: This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation. If the UK government passes appropriate legislation, the fee for subsequent years of study may increase in each academic year. But this increase will not exceed the rate of inflation as measured by RPIX**. Any change in fees will apply to both new and continuing students. The University will notify students of any change as early as possible. Further information about fee changes would be posted on the University’s website once this becomes available.

**RPIX is a measure of inflation equivalent to all the items in the Retail Price Index (RPI) excluding mortgage interest payments.

Accommodation and living costs
Accommodation and living costs
Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees.

Sources of financial support

If you receive funding from Student Finance you may be eligible to apply for additional benefits. Details can be obtained by visiting: www.gov.uk

Scholarships and additional funding

As an undergraduate student at Staffordshire, you may be eligible for additional financial support through one of our scholarships and bursaries. You can visit our funding page to find out more and check your eligibility.

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Rules and regulations

If you are offered a place at University of Staffordshire, your offer will be subject to our rules, regulations and enrolment conditions, which may vary from time to time.

Students of University of Staffordshire enter into a contract with us and are bound by these rules and regulations, which are subject to change. For more information, please see: University Policies and Regulations.