Graduates well-trained in the art and science of hospitality

Hawaii earns $1 billion a month from tourism. Our continued success depends on educating future tourism leaders to compete globally. The challenge is to maintain the integrity of Hawaii and its people, while providing a genuine experience for visitors. The most enduring destinations treat hospitality as an art, as well as a science.

Today’s hospitality managers say that the business is no longer just serving customers, but also managing revenues, assets and risk. Tourism management is not only about satisfying customers, but also achieving energy efficiencies, preserving cultures and ecology. Transportation management is not just logistics, but also achieving a sustainable supply chain.

The School of Travel Industry Management (TIM) is unique since it combines hospitality, tourism and transportation under a single discipline. Its curriculum started with a Management Science core, but has expanded into the Social Sciences (geography, sociology, planning), Sustainability Sciences (ecotourism, crisis management) and Peace Sciences (corporate social responsibility, responsible tourism).

TIM students must take two years of liberal arts and two years of language. The curriculum goes beyond a basic business degree through specialized core courses in services management and marketing, information technology, finance, human resources and legal environment — all focusing on the travel industry as the basis for courses in hotel management, food and beverage management, air transportation and sustainable tourism.

We are the only unit on campus that teaches revenue management to deal with the competitive pricing situation in travel. As such, our bachelor of science and master of science are solid professional degrees that prepare graduates for a global economy, as well as many other careers in the service sector, which employs 90 percent of American workers.

At our recent Legacy in Tourism banquet, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said that the TIM School is central to who we are in Hawaii and how we can benefit from an industry that promotes peace. UH President M.R.C. Greenwood referred to the work in designing the state’s tourism dashboard by Dan Spencer with HTA and DBEDT, as giving Hawaii the potential to become a leading tourism data analytics center. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye emphasized that the school has a critical role to play in preparing for the future wave of Asian tourism.

All of our graduates find jobs, mostly through their 800 hours of internships, while others are heavily recruited at graduation. Internships are arranged by staff and professors like Ivan Wen, who contacted Sheraton Taipei. Thanks to generous industry and alumni support, more than $250,000 will be granted in scholarships, awards and work-study next academic year.

As the tourism industry expands, so do the opportunities, such as our 60 student volunteers for APEC. Recently, Joyce Hwang arranged for TIM students to mentor high school students in a HTA program held at the Sheraton Waikiki. We host information sessions for high school students, but any interested teacher can contact us for a campus visit.

Our professional programs are in demand worldwide by government officials, CEOs and students from China, Japan, Korea and Abu Dhabi. Some graduates are now top officials in China’s national tourism ministry, national travel agency and Air China. Thus, the global networks in Hawaii’s emerging visitor markets are expanded through edutourism.

There is an ever-growing number of TIM alumni who are chief executives in the hotel industry such as Kyo-ya, Best Western International, Aulani Disney, Miramar, Waikiki Parc, Sheraton Maui, W Scottsdale, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Orlando, Fairmont Singapore, Crowne Plaza Beijing, as well as Waialae Country Club, FCH (Zippy’s), and Alaska Airlines Hawaii, to name a few.

How well we will be able to continue to provide future leaders for our major industry will depend upon the support TIM receives in efforts to grow faculty resources, strengthen graduate programs, and expand to the neighbor islands.