Daniela Březinová is the first student to graduate with a Bachelor´s Degree in Hospitality Management

Daniela Březinová loves to travel.

– Earlier I was cycling professionally. I travelled a lot for races but then I decided to quit it. I still like travelling, exploring new places and so on, she tells.

First, she was studying in Travel and Tourism degree programme in her home country, focusing mainly on economics and management. Then she came to Finland as an exchange student.

– I was studying for a year as an exchange student, during that time I had courses in the Finnish tourism degree programme. I then decided to study my degree in SAMK. So, I started my studies in International Tourism Development programme. First, I thought that I would spend one semester in Finland and the second in Denmark, but when I had arrived here, I decided to stay.

Why Finland and Satakunta University of Applied Sciences?

– I had always wanted to study in the Nordic countries because the education system here is so good. The lifestyle also suits me: I know how things are and if there is a meeting, I know that everybody will attend and I do not have to wait for anything.

The overall picture is the most important thing

Daniela Březinová’s studies consisted of different kind of projects, which covered responsible tourism, sustainability, different areas of marketing and destination development.

– This programme was suitable for me because it focused on the overall picture. In tourism, you can find many universities offering programmes focusing on restaurants or hotels. This programme focuses on the whole destination from an international point of view, she says.

– Half of our study group consisted of Finns and the other half of international students. We all had different points of view. When your work is to attract tourists from different countries, it is good to know what people are expecting.

Summer job in Visit Espoo

Daniela Březinová thinks that the best thing in her studies was the co-operation with the companies.

– In tourism there are so many parts that you can choose to study, so it was interesting to see all those opportunities. It was useful that we studied a great deal in actual situations. In addition, we reflected a lot on what might happen in the future. We studied for example trends, megatrends, sustainability, tourism and destination recovery, but also authenticity and innovative development.

– It is very important to think about how we recover from the pandemic situation; how to do it in a way that the situation of tourism companies improves and further develops, but at the same time ensuring that the tourism destination development is sustainable.

Her thesis focused on Instagram channel development for destination marketing organization Visit Espoo. She also continues there with the marketing strategy and social media as a summer worker.

She is planning to stay in Finland.

– I would like to have a full-time job in the tourism destination development. It would be the best thing I can imagine.

See Daniela Březinová’s thesis See more about the programme (now called “International Tourism Management”)