An Analysis of Curriculum Requirements among Hospitality and Tourism Management Programs in AACSB Colleges of Business in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Hospitality and tourism management programs are becoming a staple of university curricula throughout the world, offering a wide diversity of courses and programs. Historically, such programs have evolved as independent schools or colleges within their universities. More often they have developed as departments under larger schools or colleges such as geography, recreation, home economics, and business. As a result, the academic field has struggled with an identity crisis of sorts due to the diversity of academic homes and the lack of a widely recognized common body of knowledge that constitutes the core theory and concepts. To investigate the current state of hospitality and tourism management curriculum in all business schools in the United States accredited by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business—28 programs were surveyed to determine the depth and breadth of requirements for major, minor and concentration in hospitality and tourism management. The results indicate hospitality and tourism management major curriculums in business schools are moving toward a core group of required business and hospitality and tourism management courses. However, there is little consensus on what courses constitute the hospitality and tourism management concentration and minor.