Master of Management Studies (M.M.S) Tourism Marketing Syllabus - Mumbai University 2026

Course objectives

• 1 To introduce foundational concepts, principles, and strategies specific to tourism marketing.
• 2 To equip students with skills for market segmentation, targeting, and positioning in tourism contexts.
• 3 To develop practical abilities in designing effective promotional strategies for tourism destinations and services.
• 4 To foster analytical understanding of consumer behaviour, trends, and competition in the tourism sector.
• 5 To cultivate strategic insight into managing tourism marketing campaigns, including digital and experiential marketing approaches.

Course outcomes

• CO1: Understand the fundamentals and types of tourism
• CO2: Apply concepts learnt to evaluate the tourism industry
• CO3: Analyze country – specific tourism strategies using Ghemavat’s AAA framework
• CO4: Evaluate various country brands in tourism based on Anholt-GfK brand Indices
• CO5: Create tourism strategies for different countries based on concepts learnt in the course

Unit 1 CO1 · 3 hours

Types of tourism – medical tourism, place tourism, gaming tourism – spas, parks, beaches, etc.

Unit 2 CO1, CO2 · 4 hours

Ghemavat’s AAA framework – application to comparative advantages of countries in tourism

Unit 3 CO2, CO3 · 4 hours

Healthcare tourism – classification, drivers of success in Asia; success stories – Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India; Wildlife tourism and success stories in Southern Africa, co- opting of local communities in wildlife conservation, revenue sharing model with local communities.

Unit 4 CO2, CO3 · 4 hours

Medical Travel – value proposition, product, quality, availability, timeliness; patient concerns of follow up treatments in home countries

Unit 5 CO3, CO4 · 4 hours

Brand Management of Places- communication based and policy-based models of branding places; Anholt- GfK Nation Brand Index – people, tourism, exports, governance, political leadership investments, immigration, culture, heritage, country of origin

Unit 6 CO3, CO4 · 4 hours

Role of social media in place branding: information, advertising targeting to audiences based on tourist activities promoted by nations, two-way communication with prospective tourists, role of social media influencers, social media role in perceptions of national governance, public diplomacy and impact on tourism

Unit 7 CO3, CO4 · 4 hours

Gaming tourism: legalization of gaming, Macau Concept, positioning as an attractive gaming destination, gaming as a destination entertainment, design of family entertainment, creation of convention centres to promote gaming destinations, role of giant shopping malls in gaming destinations, Las Vegas model

Unit 8 CO4 · 3 hours

Technology and tourism: AI as virtual travel agent, changing roles of airlines, hotels, online travel agencies due to AI, partnering with Amazon, Google in customer retention, control of customer data and use of loyalty programmes for customer leverage

Textbooks

• 1 Tourism Operations Management. Archana Biwal and Sunetra Roday. Oxford University Press
• 2 Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. Philip Kotler, John Bowen et al. 7e. Pearson

Reference Books

• 1 Marketing in Travel and Tourism. Mike Morgan. 4e. Butterworth Heinman