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Studies & Degrees in Cultural Tourism

Cultural tourism is travel whose main purpose is culture. UN Tourism, the United Nations tourism agency, defines it, in a definition adopted by its General Assembly in 2017, as a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions and products of a destination. That covers monuments, museums and historic towns, and also festivals, crafts, music, food and living traditions. According to UN Tourism figures from 2018, 47% of tourists take part in cultural activities on their trips abroad.

As a field of study, cultural tourism sits between tourism management and the humanities. Students learn how tourism businesses and destinations work, and they study heritage, art history and local culture in order to design visits, routes and events around them. Typical topics are heritage management and interpretation, the design of tourism products, destination planning, marketing, events, sustainability and foreign languages.

Qualifications and levels

Cultural tourism is usually a specialisation inside a broader tourism or heritage programme, not a degree title of its own.

  • Bachelor's degrees in tourism. In Spain the bachelor's degree (grado) in tourism has 240 ECTS credits. The Grado en Turismo of CETT in Barcelona, an official degree awarded by the Universitat de Barcelona, lasts four years and has a specialisation track called Eventos, Cultura y Experiencias, centred on creating, managing and promoting cultural and creative projects in tourism. The online Grado en Turismo of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) also has 240 ECTS credits and includes a 6-credit subject on cultural heritage.
  • Italy. Bachelor's level degrees take three years. Fondazione Campus in Lucca runs, with the Università di Pisa and the Università degli Studi di Pavia, the Corso di Laurea in Scienze del Turismo and a second-cycle degree (laurea magistrale) in the design and management of tourism systems and events. The Università per Stranieri di Perugia offers a three-year degree in Made in Italy, Food and Hospitality, focused on food, tourism and territorial promotion, and a joint master's degree with the University of Perugia that covers sustainable food and wine tourism.
  • Master's degrees. Official master's degrees in Spain have 60, 90 or 120 ECTS credits; tourism, heritage management and events are common specialisations.
  • Vocational training in Spain. The Técnico Superior en Guía, Información y Asistencias Turísticas is a higher vocational training (FP de grado superior) qualification of 2,000 hours. The jobs it leads to include local guide, tour escort and guide at sites listed as cultural heritage.
  • Short courses and summer schools. Language schools and summer programmes combine language classes with culture and visits. Ask the school what recognition its certificate has.

Where to study

SpainExchange lists 10 active schools for cultural tourism: four in Italy, three in Spain and one each in Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and Russia. In Italy they are the Università per Stranieri di Perugia, the University of Ferrara, Fondazione Campus Studi del Mediterraneo near Lucca and the Swiss School of Management, Rome Campus. In Spain they are the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and CETT Tourism and Hospitality Education, both in Barcelona, and the Escuela Superior de Gastronomía y Turismo Torremolinos-Costa del Sol.

The language of instruction follows the country and the school. The UOC teaches its tourism degree in Spanish and in Catalan, in separate classrooms. CETT teaches in Spanish, Catalan and English, and states that the whole degree can be taken in English. Italian university degrees in tourism are mostly taught in Italian, so check the language of each programme before applying.

Careers

Graduates work for tourist offices and destination management bodies, tour operators and travel agencies, museums and heritage sites, event organisers and consultancies, or as guides. The UOC lists tourist office manager, local development agent and adviser on natural and cultural heritage management among the roles its tourism degree prepares for.

Guiding is regulated differently in each country and region, and an official guide licence may be needed on top of a degree. For the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment of tour and travel guides will grow 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 11,900 openings a year.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a degree in cultural tourism?

Usually it is a specialisation within a tourism degree. The Grado en Turismo of CETT in Barcelona, for example, has a track called Eventos, Cultura y Experiencias, and the UOC tourism degree includes a subject on cultural heritage.

How long does a tourism degree take in Spain and in Italy?

In Spain a bachelor's degree in tourism has 240 ECTS credits, normally four years. In Italy the first-cycle degree takes three years; the Università per Stranieri di Perugia describes its degree in Made in Italy, Food and Hospitality as a three-year programme.

Can I study cultural tourism online or in English?

Yes, in some schools. The UOC teaches its tourism degree fully online, in Spanish or Catalan, and CETT states that its Grado en Turismo can be taken entirely in English.

Which Spanish qualification trains tourist guides?

The vocational title Técnico Superior en Guía, Información y Asistencias Turísticas, of 2,000 hours. Its holders can work as local guides, tour escorts and guides at cultural heritage sites.