Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management

The mission of the Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management department is to be a student-centered academic and professional environment dedicated to educating exceptional hospitality and tourism industry business leaders through experiential and personalized learning.

The program is designed to provide students with a core of business education and professional hospitality and tourism management knowledge. Students can choose to focus on an elective emphasis, including: hotel operations management; food and beverage management; conventions, meetings and event management, or tourism management. The department is committed to maximizing student exposure to industry leaders, career opportunities and student experiences involving notable hospitality companies. The Hospitality and Tourism Management department features the on-campus Vista Room, a student-run restaurant which serves as an experiential learning laboratory.

Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Critical Thinking: Students locate, organize and interpret data to solve problems and make decisions. Students synthesize information/data/concepts to create solutions or plans to address challenges. Students present, defend and advocate positions with an understanding of implications.
  2. Teamwork and Collaboration: Students create, utilize and participate in teams to achieve goals.
  3. Leadership: Students apply theoretical concepts and seek experience and knowledge to maximize potential.
  4. Communication: Students communicate effectively in both written and oral formats to different audiences.
  5. Ethics: Students examine ethical implications and understand the potential ramifications of actions.
  6. Hospitality: Students are aware of and empathetic to others in order to design and execute positive guest and employee experiences.

Hospitality and Tourism Management (B.S.) — 72 units

  • In addition to the core course program required of all Hospitality and Tourism Management majors, ECON 101 and ECON 102 must be completed before enrollment in certain core courses.
  • Except in cases of credit by examination, no more than six units of the core requirements may be taken on a CR/NC basis.

Major Prerequisites (6 units)

ECON 101Introduction to Microeconomic Analysis3
ECON 102Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis3

Core Courses (54 units)

ACCT 100Introduction to Financial Accounting3
ACCT 101Introduction to Managerial Accounting3
Select One:3
Business Statistics I
Data Analysis in Education
Elementary Statistics
FIN 350Business Finance3
HTM 110Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism Management3
HTM 120Legal Aspects of Hospitality and Tourism Management3
HTM 300GWHospitality Tourism Management Business Communication - GWAR3
HTM 301Food Science and Production3
HTM 424Tourism Management3
HTM 457Restaurant Operations3
HTM 458Hospitality Tourism Management Revenue and Cost Control3
HTM 515Hospitality and Tourism Management Internship3
HTM 531Hospitality Services Management3
HTM 560Hospitality Human Resource Management3
HTM 561Hotel Operation Management3
HTM 590Integrated Seminar in Hospitality and Tourism Management3
MGMT 405Introduction to Management and Organizational Behavior3
MKTG 431Principles of Marketing3

Guided Electives (12 units)

Select four:

HTM 215Service Leadership: Theory and Practice3
HTM 324Historical and Contemporary Aspects of Food, Beverage, and Culture in America3
HTM 351Asian Food, Culture, and Hospitality3
HTM 357Food Systems and the Environment3
HTM 400Wine Appreciation3
HTM 421Food, Wine, and Culture in California3
HTM 425The Business of International Tourism3
HTM 557Restaurant and Catering Management3
HTM 562Advanced Studies in Global Hotel Operations Management3
HTM 576Meeting Planning and Convention/Event Management I3
HTM 577Meeting Planning and Convention/Event Management II3
HTM 578Hospitality and Tourism Management Sales and Marketing3
IBUS 330International Business and Multicultural Relations3

General Education Requirements

Requirement Course Level Units Area Designation
Oral Communication LD 3 A1
Written English Communication LD 3 A2
Critical Thinking LD 3 A3
Physical Science LD 3 B1
Life Science LD 3 B2
Lab Science LD 1 B3
Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning LD 3 B4
Arts LD 3 C1
Humanities LD 3 C2
Arts or Humanities LD 3 C1 or C2
Social Sciences LD 3 D1
Social Sciences: US History LD 3 D2
Lifelong Learning and Self-Development (LLD) LD 3 E
Ethnic Studies LD 3 F
Physical and/or Life Science UD 3 UD-B
Arts and/or Humanities UD 3 UD-C
Social Sciences UD 3 UD-D
SF State Studies
Courses certified as meeting the SF State Studies requirements may be upper or lower division in General Education (GE), a major or minor, or an elective.
American Ethnic and Racial Minorities LD or UD 3 AERM
Environmental Sustainability LD or UD 3 ES
Global Perspectives LD or UD 3 GP
Social Justice LD or UD 3 SJ

Note: LD = Lower-Division; UD = Upper-Division.

First-Time Student Roadmap (4 Year)

  1. The roadmaps presented in this Bulletin are intended as suggested plans of study and do not replace meeting with an advisor. For a more personalized roadmap, please use the Degree Planner tool found in your Student Center.
  2. In order to choose your English Composition A2 course and your QR/Math B4 course, please complete the online advising activities at writingadvising.sfsu.edu and mathadvising.sfsu.edu. Questions? Contact Gator Smart Start.

First-Time Student Roadmap

Transfer Student Roadmap (2 Year)

For students with an AS-T in Business Administration (2011).
Business Administration ADT Roadmap

For students with an AS-T in Business Administration 2.0 (2021).
Business Administration ADT Roadmap

General Advising Information for Transfer Students

  1. Before transfer, complete as many lower-division requirements or electives for this major as possible.
  2. The following courses are not required for admission but are required for graduation. Students are strongly encouraged to complete these units before transfer; doing so will provide more flexibility in course selection after transfer.
    • a course in U.S. History
    • a course in U.S. & California Government

For information about satisfying the requirements described in (1) and (2) above at a California Community College (CCC), please visit http://www.assist.org. Check any geographically accessible CCCs; sometimes options include more than one college. Use ASSIST to determine:

  • Which courses at a CCC satisfy any lower-division major requirements for this major;
  • Which courses at a CCC satisfy CSU GE, US History, and US & CA Government requirements.

Remedial courses are not transferable and do not apply to the minimum 60 semester units/90 quarter units required for admission.

Additional units for courses that are repeated do not apply to the minimum 60 units required for upper-division transfer (for example, if a course was not passed on the first attempt or was taken to earn a better grade).

Before leaving the last California Community College of attendance, obtain a summary of completion of lower-division General Education units (IGETC or CSU GE Breadth). This is often referred to as a GE certification worksheet. SF State does not require delivery of this certification to Admissions, but students should retain this document for verifying degree progress after transfer.

Credit for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or College-Level Examination Program courses: AP/IB/CLEP credit is not automatically transferred from the previous institution. Units are transferred only when an official score report is delivered to SF State. Credit is based on the academic year during which exams were taken. Refer to the University Bulletin in effect during the year of AP/IB/CLEP examination(s) for details regarding the award of credit for AP/IB/CLEP.

Students pursuing majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines often defer 6-9 units of lower-division General Education in Areas C and D until after transfer to focus on preparation courses for the major. This advice does not apply to students pursuing associate degree completion before transfer.

Transferring From Institutions Other Than CCCs or CSUs

Review SF State's lower-division General Education requirements. Note that, as described below, the four basic skills courses required for admission meet A1, A2, A3, and B4 in the SF State GE pattern. Courses that fulfill the remaining areas of SF State’s lower-division GE pattern are available at most two-year and four-year colleges and universities.

Of the four required basic skills courses, a course in critical thinking (A3) may not be widely offered outside the CCC and CSU systems. Students should attempt to identify and take an appropriate course no later than the term of application to the CSU. To review more information about the A3 requirement, please visit bulletin.sfsu.edu/undergraduate-education/general-education/lower-division/#AAEL.

Waiting until after transfer to take a single course at SF State that meets both US and CA/local government requirements may be an appropriate option, particularly if transferring from outside of California.