The Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM) is in charge of the two study programs in tourism:

• BBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management
• Professional MBA in Tourism Management

At present, the following broad areas represent the research focus of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management:
Travel Flows and Competitor Analyses
This area builds on previous work by MODUL University Vienna faculty on Regional Tourism Development. There is a need to perform travel flow and competitor analyses on national, regional, as well as local levels. For instance, recent changes in tourism infrastructure and tourism organizations’ activities in the Eastern European region are largely unexplored topics. Thus, wider impacts of these changes on tourism competition in Central and Eastern Europe remain unknown.
One of the many challenges of tourism research on regional levels concerns the collection and analysis of data. However, researchers frequently face methodological difficulties due to incomplete or non-standardized information. Therefore, MU Vienna aims to further expand current databases on regional tourism statistics, as well as to develop and implement analytical tools to allow for a more specific investigation of economic issues in these regional areas.
Tourism Information Systems
The application of market intelligence for the development of IT-based product innovations, Management Information Systems and selected areas of Web economy form the core of this research area. Therefore, developments and widespread implementation of non-trivial analytical and optimization tools from the adjoining fields of management and market science, psychometrics, statistics and computational intelligence are of particular interest to MU Vienna researchers.
Future potential research topics include the implementation of new media to generate and evaluate travel and leisure innovations, as well as the improvement of shared-experience models for implementation in collaborative working environments (in the field of tourism management).
Media Analyses and Semantic Technologies
At present, a number of projects in the area of media observation and knowledge management lack appropriate analytical frameworks, concentrate on a single medium or largely ignore the dual role of travelers and tourism-related decision makers as consumers and generators of content within the media. This perceived shortcoming presents itself as an opportunity to develop strong research expertise with a view to model fundamental mechanisms of information diffusion in multi-leveled interactive media and the impact thereof on public perception processes.
Until the end of 2008, MU Vienna faculty has a responsibility for the IDIOM project as part of the 3rd FIT-IT Semantic Systems (www.idiom.at; www.fit-it.at). This project focuses on the diffusion of tourism-relevant information between websites, RSS feeds and ‘social media’ (blogs, wiki-applications, discussion forums, etc). One of the central aims of this project is to ascertain how tourists express their experiences in social networks and how far decision makers can utilize this process.
For more details on this research field and current projects visit the research site of the Department of New Media Technology.
Empirical Behavioral Research in Travel and Leisure
Central to this research interest is a creative advancement of existing explanation models instead of a simple transfer of consumer behavior research outcomes to empirical analyzes in the field of tourism and leisure. The complexity and mostly intangible nature of the products in the tourism and leisure industry challenges most established consumption models originated in the manufactured goods industry, and therefore require critical adaptation or re-orientation. Furthermore, basic consumption decision parameters, information flow and distribution channels have changed extensively over the past few years.
Research topics include tourism-inclusive cards, all-inclusive products in tourism, product evaluations within airline sectors, target group investigations in day-trip consumption situations, information behavior of travel consumers, as well as changes of travel agent distribution processes.
Sustainable Tourism
Knowledge related to destination management and quality assurance measures, particularly issues of development, implementation and evaluation of certification systems, are core competencies of MU Vienna faculty. Furthermore, ‘sustainability’ is one of the pillars of the University’s philosophy and operation. Forthcoming research will emphasize market research on sustainability awareness and response, assessment of the impact of climate change to the tourism industry, evaluation of the efficiency of sustainability programs and sustainability communication and collaboration.