Department of Tourism and Hotel Management

.... a place where WORLD turns into REAL  ACTION ......

The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management is one of the three founding departments of the Faculty of Management. Its history began in 1994 when the first higher education department preparing tourism specialists was founded in Prešov - the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, with the branch in Prešov. The Institute was established with a significant material and pedagogical support from the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality of the University of Savoy in Chambéry, France.

After the foundation of the University of Prešov in Prešov in 1997, the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management was integrated into the organizational structure of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov in Prešov.

On establishing the Faculty of Management of the UP in Prešov in 2004, the Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management was integrated into the newly established structure of the faculty as the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management. The name of the faculty was changed in 2021 (November 21, 2021). The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management is thus part of the Faculty of Management and Business.

These days there is a growing need to connect the education system with practice, so higher education institutions with the fields of study in the area of tourism and hotel management prepare their students with a special focus on their successful employment in the labour market. The members of the department are aware of the fact that higher education is a constant process of searching for new methods and forms of teaching and of a continuous improvement of study programmes. An important part of the activities of the department in the pedagogical area is therefore the provision of professional training centres  for students, the organization of excursions to hotels, restaurants, spa facilities, travel agencies and other businesses in the field of tourism, geographic excursions aimed at getting to know  Slovakia and selected foreign destinations, inviting experts in the field to give lectures and workshops to students and active cooperation with professional organizations (Slovak Association of Hotels and Restaurants, Slovak Association of Travel Agencies and particular travel agencies). The main objective of the given activities as well as of many other activities of the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management is to achieve the necessary interconnection of the education system with  practice by examining real practical needs in the national and international contexts,  trends in education and in the field,as well as by conducting research and implementing research findings, knowledge and experience into the educational process

 Scientific and research activities 

The members of the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management carry out scientific and research activities thoughtfully and alongside their own research activities. They actively participate in performing research tasks of other departments of the Faculty of Management and Business. The recent research interests of the department include topical questions related to the development of tourism in Slovakia with the emphasis on its conceptual development and regional activities, improvement of theoretical and practical preparation of managers in the area of tourism, hotel and spa industry, the issue of rural tourism, agritourism and gastro-tourism. The most significant ones are as follows:

In 2017 the department successfully completed the Project 020PU-4/2015 „Creation of Multimedia  web Documents for  E-learning Education  and Raising the Quality of Knowledge of Managers and Students“(Project leader:  doc. Ing. Peter Gallo, CSc.). 

In the past (2013) the department participated in carrying out the international research project „Factors of the success of thermal parks in Visegrad Group countries: Exchange of good practices“, funded by Visegrad Fund. Research partners:  Instytut rozwoju miast Krakow, Poland; Charles University Prague, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Czech Republic;  Hitesy Bartucz Hollai Euroconsulting Kft. Budapest, Hungary.

The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management organised the first international educational project carried out at the Faculty of Management of UP in Prešov „Erasmus Intensive program - Summer School IP 2010: Comparison of Tourism Development Determinants in the European Union and Candidate Countries in the Process of Globalization on the Example of a Concrete Form of Tourism.  The main objectives of the three-year travel project was the mobility of students and teachers, the use of ICT tools and services, informatisation of the society and development of creativity in education by means of workshops, lectures, discussion panels, case studies and excursions.

Each year the project participants met in a different country and the project focus depended on the dominant form of tourism in it (2010 – Slovakia, University of Prešov in Prešov, Faculty of Management, focus „Spa tourism“,   2011  Akdeniz University,  Antalya, Turkey, focus  „Summer tourism“ and  year 2012 – Austria, Karl-Franzens University in  Graz, focus „Winter tourism“).

The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management has long been working closely with practice, especially with tourism organisations, travel agencies, tourist information centres, accommodation and catering facilities. The cooperation is manifested in the form of lectures by experts from practice at the faculty, the organisation of professional workshops, educational activities for employees of enterprises and the solution of joint projects.

In 2018, members of the department successfully implemented a project for the Prešov Self-Governing Region supported by the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic under the title: Tourism Development Strategy in the Vranov nad Topľou District in the Context of Broader Relationships between Natural Destinations and Interconnection of Activities in the Least Developed Districts on the Territory of the Prešov Self-Governing Region.

Since 2022, all members of the department are involved in the project KEGA 005PU-4/2022 "Innovation of the study programme Tourism, Hotel and Spa Industry in the first degree of study in the study field Economics and Management" (project leader: assoc. prof. Ing. Anna Šenková, PhD.).

Educational infrastructure

The department guarantees the Bachelor’s Study Programme Tourism, Hotel and Spa Industry in a part-time and full-time form of study in the field of study Economy and Management. It also teaches specific subjects in the area of tourism, hotel and spa industry and regional development in other accredited study programmes provided by the Faculty of Management and Business, specifically Management (in the field of study Economy and Management) and Environmental Management (in the field of study Ecological and Environment Sciences). The subjects are as follows:

• Fundamentals of Tourism
• Cultural History
• Cultural and Urban Tourism  
• Geography and Regionalisation of Tourism in the Slovak Republic
• Tourist Destinations in Europe
• Non-European Tourist Destinations
• Technology of Tourism Services
• Technology of Spa Services (Physiotherapy, Balneology, and Spa Treatment)
• Spa Tourism in Slovakia
• Management of Hotel Services
• Managerial Innovations in Tourism
• International Tourism
• Management and Marketing of Regional Development
• Tourism Destination Management
• Ecotourism
• Rural Tourism and Agritourism 
• Gastronomy
• Social Etiquette
• Tourist Guide Services
• Tourist  products
• Setting up Tourism Projects
• Sports and Recreation Activities and Animation in Tourism