The Les Roches hotel management school has made sustainable development a Bachelor specialization by dedicating the last semester of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) course in international hotel management to the subject.
Sustainability is now one of the four specializations to choose from within the Crans-Montana Campus for students, along with Entrepreneurship, Digital Marketing Strategies and Financial Performance Management.
Contributing to 10%1 of global GDP, the hospitality and tourism sector is proportionally one of the ecosystems most affected by sustainable development issues. The realization of a sustainable tourism industry is underway, valuing meaningful initiatives and resource-efficient cycles. Control tools such as ESG criteria – environmental, social and governance – have a direct impact on society or the environment. Faithful to its academic philosophy promoting the spirit of innovation and creativity, Les Roches aims to strengthen the capacity of future leaders to be the drivers of sustainability and change.
This is how the new Bachelor’s specialization is designed so that students can acquire the managerial skills and knowledge necessary to sustainably transform hospitality, tourism and the experience economy. Courses cover changing requirements of clients, partners and affected communities, eco-tourism, design, as well as ethics and corporate governance issues. Other specializations are offered in the last semester of BBA studies both on the Crans-Montana and Marbella campuses: Entrepreneurship, Digital Marketing Strategies and Financial Performance Management.
Marbella’s additional specialization is in Resort Development and Management and provides all the skills needed to manage luxury resort hotels and related businesses.
This specialization Sustainable Development Methods and Practices » will be given in Crans[1]Montana next September. Teachings will be given by eminent faculty members such as Dr. Dimitrios Diamantis, Dean of Graduate Studies. A visionary before his time, his doctoral thesis was already on ecotourism and customer involvement.
Experts in the field will also intervene in the form of lectures. He expresses his enthusiasm: Sustainability and ethical issues have long been topics discussed within the courses. But today we are taking a step, sustainable development is truly entering as an academic discipline of specialization! ». Adding: ” This intellectually significant program is eagerly awaited by the entire young generation of students and is a perfect complement to operational and academic initiatives as much as to our annual meeting, the Shift’In festival in November.”.
At the same time, the school offers high school students an international innovation competition. Any eco-luxury idea in hospitality can earn the winners an expedition to the Galapagos Islands and scholarships. The competition, carried out in partnership with Lindblad Expeditions, pioneers in sustainable travel, is open to anyone eligible to enter the Bachelor in Global Hospitality Management in 2022 or 2023. 1 Source: World Travel and Tourism Council
