The challenge in the Tourism Impact Lab minor is to develop a new product or service for a tourism-related organisation that will have a positive impact.

Why choose this minor?

• You want to develop a business case for a tourism-related organisation, from TUI to start-ups.
• You want to learn how to apply design thinking methods to a real-life business case.
• You want to create positive change and impact for businesses and consumers.
• You want to expand your professional network for future placements, graduation projects and/or careers.

What is it all about?
Over the course of 18 weeks, you will work in a small group of students on a business case provided by a tourism business or organisation. These range from large multinationals, such as TUI, to start-ups. Using experience design and the Lean Startup method, you will conduct research and carry out experiments to ultimately present an effective solution to your client.

During the minor, you will attend masterclasses that will lay the foundations for your studies. During the first few weeks, you will learn more about your commissioner’s business case and the market opportunity. Over the following weeks, you will identify the most suitable solution for future customers. You will meet frequently with your commissioner to gain an understanding of their business and target group(s), and to assess their current digital performance.

During the final weeks of the programme, you will conduct real ‘growth hacking’ experiments to test your proposed product or service. These experiments will lead to recommendations for the commissioner on how to introduce your product or service to the market.

This minor focuses on a real-life business case from a tourism-related company or organisation. You will learn how to apply an evidence-based methodology using the ‘build, measure and learn’ loop to test new products and services on real customers. Furthermore, you will significantly expand your professional network

What’s in it for me?
The tourism industry is always on the move. If you want to work in tourism, it’s important to understand this dynamic field, which is full of changes and opportunities that can lead to new solutions. You will be the link between problems and solutions. This minor will teach you to anticipate industry trends and changes, balance people, planet and profit equally, and translate problems into solutions and recommendations.

After this minor
Once you have completed this minor, you will feel like a tourism industry professional.  Consider roles such as product developer, product manager, marketing professional, sales professional or trends analyst. These are just a few examples, as the possibilities are endless!

By the end of this minor, you will be able to:

• apply a methodological approach, such as trend research, socio-cultural impact analysis, or market or competition analysis.
• demonstrate your critical thinking skills and ability to consider problems from different perspectives.
• Gain social and communication skills.
• Learn to strike a balance between people, planet and profit (PPP).
• Learn to organise, manage and improve business and organisational processes.
• Learn to initiate, create and market products and services (both nationally and internationally).

• Students from Tourism, Leisure, Hotel Management programmes
• Propaedeutic certificate obtained

Previously acquired knowledge and skills form the base for this minor. Professional and academic sources will be used additionally: 
- Maurya, A. (2012). Running Lean, Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works. 
- Hanington, B., Martin, B. (2012). Universal Methods of Design 
- Tomitsch, M. (2017). Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat., A handbook of methods. 

Approximately 10 contact hours are spent on campus each week. The rest of the week is spent conducting group research, attending in-company work sessions and coaching sessions, and working on personal development.

Masterclasses and workshops.

Assessment:
Progress tests
Blocks 1 and 2 are followed by an assessment of the progress made. Feedback is provided in the form of a formative evaluation: your work is provided with feedback throughout the entire process.

Final test (30 EC)
At the end of the minor, you will hand in:
>         a professional product for the commissioner with your team
>         an individual learning portfolio with various parts of the assignments and your individual process in the group project

Grading is from 0 to 10.
A score of 5.5 or above counts as a pass.

Language of instruction
Blended: The course will be taught in English, but students have the option of submitting their assignments in Dutch.

Topics and Structure of the minor
The overall goal of this minor is to learn how to develop professional solutions for people working in tourism. The following topics are covered:

• Business model innovation
• Connecting to the industry
• Design Thinking and Lean Startup
• Industry assignment
• Learning community
• Positive impact

This minor consists of three blocks, each comprising several masterclasses, and is worth 30 EC. As part of the wider Tourism Impact learning community, you will work in groups of three or four students on an impactful and innovative business case alongside representatives from the tourism industry and various lecturers. During the workshops, you will develop a proposal to present to the commissioner of your business case.

The minor is structured into three blocks.

• In block 1, you will familiarise yourself with the commissioner and the assignment. You will begin the first stage of the research by interviewing the target group to clarify the problem and identify opportunities.
• In block 2, you will take the next steps to define the problem and find a suitable solution.
• Block 3 involves conducting growth marketing experiments to determine whether there is a market fit.

Additional costs
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