Northwestern Oklahoma State University will begin offering a new Master of Arts degree in Heritage Tourism and Conservation in August.
This 32-hour program is designed to increase the knowledge base for students who are already employed in a conservation/tourism-based position and for students who want to work or establish a business within the conservation/tourism industry. The curriculum includes multidisciplinary coursework in the areas of history, sociology, communication and conservation that culminates in an individualized project in an area of interest to each student.
“The aim is to prepare students to serve as leaders in existing and emerging areas of conservation/tourism and to make them more valuable and marketable to current and potential employers,” said Dr. Shawn Holliday, associate dean of graduate studies. “This program fulfills a need and unique niche in northwestern Oklahoma.”
Holliday noted that information from the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation states that tourism is the third largest industry in the state, and tax collections have increased more than 20 percent since 2010. Spending on tourism has grown by 28 percent during that same time period.
Holliday also pointed to a recent article in the “Tulsa World” that stated the Oklahoma Department of Tourism has reported that the tourism industry added almost $9 billion to the state’s economy over the past calendar year.
In northwest Oklahoma, there are five state parks: Gloss Mountain, Little Sahara, Alabaster Caverns, Great Salt Plains and Boiling Springs. There is also one National Wildlife Refuge at Great Salt Plains, and there are many conservation areas in Woods, Harper, Dewey, Ellis and Woodward Counties.
Holliday said agri-tourism is a subset of a larger industry called rural tourism that includes resorts, off-site farmers’ markets, non-profit agricultural tours, and other leisure and hospitality businesses that attract visitors to the countryside. Heritage Tourism is a subset of the larger tourism industry.
Holliday provided information from the Travel Industry Association that states heritage tourism focuses on the history and culture of a given region and can include genealogy, traditional arts, story-telling, music, dance, customs, food, activities of daily life, and incorporate museums (historical, archaeological, natural history, geologic) as part of the attraction.
For more information and application requirements for this new master’s degree in Heritage Tourism and Conservation, contact Holliday at (580) 327-8589 or spholliday@nwosu.edu.
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