June 2020

Tourism Destination Management MA Graduate

By Obdulia Carrillo

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Obdulia Carrillo Sanchez is the revenue and reservations manager for a group of three five-star luxury hotels and residences in Dubai.

Obdulia, who graduated from UCB with an MA in Tourism Destination Management in 2009, oversees bookings for more than 1,050 rooms as well as a golf complex and food and beverage operations at the InterContinental Hotels Group.

She joined UCB to take a BA in Tourism Business Management and was so impressed with the university’s ethos and teaching that she returned for her postgraduate studies, focusing on corporate responsibility for her dissertation.

Obdulia says: “UCB had the first MA in Europe in Tourism Destination Management. That shows you how advanced it is in the way it thinks. While I was doing my BA I saw that other educational organisations were not as well adapted to the needs of the market and UCB has been a pioneer in many areas.

The MA was very practical and that is what you need. It was definitely a great experience. There are a lot of graduates with a lot of certificates but when they get out into the real world of employment they don’t know how to lead a team or how to work. When you gain the base knowledge, you also need the practical side and UCB excels.

“The lecturers are able to encourage students in any topic. The female lecturers became role models for me to become the leader I am today.”

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