Tourism is a significant dollar earner. It is adjudged to be one of the three foreign exchange earners in the Philippines. Tourism is most needed for the economic recovery of the country. Because of its significant role in the economy, tourism education is necessary to develop students into entrepreneurs, managers and qualified staff personnel for the tourism industry in the Philippines. The Tourism Department at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines was established to meet this objective.

In 1977, the Faculty of Arts and Letters organized the PUP Tourism Curriculum Committee. This is the university's response to the "tourism boom that existed in the country. The committee conducted extensive research to develop a curriculum for a bachelor's degree in tourism. The curriculum was completed and became operational in 1978. The Tourism Program was under the Social, Behavioral, and Humanities Areas.

The first Tourism curriculum is a ladder-type curriculum. It has short- and long-range occupational objectives. Employment is the immediate goal, while the long-range purpose is the attainment of professional competencies. After the second-year level, the ladder-type curriculum prepares each grade in the hierarchy of occupations leading to a profession. Thus, after the second year, the student is ready for the job of a tour coordinator or tour supervisor. After the third year, the course prepares students for the tour guide profession. The fourth year completes his professional preparation for positions such as tour and travel agency executive, tour and travel agency operator, tourism entrepreneur, and tourism faculty.

Having a laddered curriculum afforded the students with work opportunities in various levels. If the student quits schooling at the end of two or three years, he obtains a training certificate as a tour coordinator or tour supervisor and, after the third year, a certificate as a tour guide. If the student completes four years, he obtains a bachelor’s degree in Tourism. The ladder -type curriculum aims to bridge the gap between the student's desire to earn a professional degree and the national objective of producing more technicians, middle-level manpower, and high-quality professionals. The strategy is to orient each year’s level in college to each step in the occupational ladder, starting from the crafts or technician level, then to sub-professional jobs, and finally to professional careers. The ladder-type curriculum is one way of democratizing higher education. It provides an avenue for the poor to obtain professional degrees. Students may study and work simultaneously should they find themselves financially handicapped to continue their college education. It is ideal for PUP students since most belong to middle and low-income groups. It allows students to work while pursuing their studies.

Significant progress has occurred since the Bachelor in Tourism course started in 1976. For the school year 1978–79, the Tourism Department had only fifty (50) students. Curriculum revisions took place in 1982 and 1986 to further improve it. Enrollment increased in 1986, from two (2) sections per year to ten (10) sections for freshmen enrollees. From the fourth floor, Wing Z of the main building, it occupied the classrooms on the second floor of the De Vega building and some rooms in the High School building for its Saturday classes to accommodate the increasing number of students. As part of student development, a group of graduating students formed the Association of Senior Travel Assistants (ASTA), with Dr. Danilo T. Reyes as the adviser. The association provided tourism students with worry-free and inexpensive tours. Income generated from the educational tours was used to finance the tuition fees of deserving but financially challenged students. 

In 1987, the Bachelor in Transportation Management (BTM) course was organized. Its establishment was the result of the directive of Pres. Nemesio E Prudente to develop additional courses related to the existing programs. Since transportation is a component of the tourism industry, the Bachelor in Transportation Management was formed. It is designed to provide training for students whose goals rely upon the management of technology rather than the direct aspects of it in the transportation sector. It gives a mixture of essential management skills, basic knowledge of the transportation industry, and a core of specially designed courses in management and policy application in the transportation fields to prepare students for managerial positions in any transportation industry sector. In the same year, from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Tourism and Transportation Management Department was transferred to the College of Business, joining the Marketing Management and Advertising departments. 

Like the Bachelor in Tourism, BTM is also ladder-type. Its job targets include ticket supervisor, reservation supervisor, transport planning analyst, operations manager, and transport executive. Faculty members conducted a "Career Talk" to various high schools in Metro Manila to introduce the course and encourage enrollees to its graduating students. Two (2) sections were offered in 1988, and the first batch graduated in 1991. PUP is the first and, until now, the only academic institution to provide the Bachelor in Transportation Management degree. 

The year 1988 marked a significant activity in the department when its First Annual Mini-Congress was organized with the theme, The Role of Planning in Convention Management. Ms. Ramona L. Ty, director of Planning and Development at the Department of Tourism (DOT), and Ms. Ma, Luz A. Cuizon, president of the Asia Pacific Convention Organizers of the Philippines (APCOP), were the guest speakers for that memorable affair. It offered a new opportunity for tourism graduates to be involved in convention and event organizing. 

When PUP finally acquired Hasmin Hostel in 1989, it became the home base of the programs Bachelor in Tourism, Bachelor in Transportation Management, Bachelor in Hotel and Restaurant Management, Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics, and Bachelor of Science in Food Technology. 

In 1990, new rules were implemented. The school uniform was adopted for tourism and transportation management students. A massive drive on cleanliness and orderliness within the M.H. del Pilar campus was prioritized. The familiarization tour was liberalized. As part of the program "Pasyal-Aral," students were allowed to visit destinations such as Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Corregidor Island, Northern Samar, and Palawan, to name a few. Linkages have been maintained with government and non-governmental organizations. 

In 1996, one hundred and sixty students in their senior level experienced the first international convention and familiarization tour in Hong Kong. This was in time for the British government's turn-over of Hong Kong to China. The convention trip at Hong Kong Polytechnic University attended by Polytechnic University of the Philippines tourism students, faculty members, and staff made the convention theme, "Breaking New Grounds' a reality. As tourists of a foreign country, students experienced the actual tour operation from their departure at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to their arrival at Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong. It also deepens the spirit of nationalism among students by appreciating more of our culture through their experience of meeting other nationality. The same expertise tested the tourism department, both students and faculty, to show its genuine concern for each other in its continuous effort to provide worthwhile experiences in realizing its objectives. 

Pres. Zenaida A. Olonan's call for 'Excellence in Education through Accreditation challenged the Tourism and Transportation Management Department to prove that their program is not only measured through the number of awards it received in various inter-university competitions, which the university won consistently through the years. A celebration was called for when 1998, it passed the Preliminary Survey made by AACCUP in its programs. While most people were thinking about what the new millennium would bring to their lives, the Tourism and Transportation Management Department continued to "Soar into New Heights. A recent college was born named the College of Tourism, Hotel and Restaurant Management (CTHRM). A dream comes true to realize plans for the three (3) programs: Bachelor in Tourism, Bachelor in Transportation Management, and Bachelor in Hotel and Restaurant Management. The college focused its activities on achieving its mission to prepare socially responsible and world-class graduates who are competent for any number of related careers in the tourism and hospitality industry and afford them a vast array of entrepreneurial opportunities. 

CTHRM Tours and Travel Agency (formerly ASTA) became more functional by offering quality and affordable packaged tours. Its existence substantiates the department's funds for research, extension, student and faculty development, and equipment acquisition. 

A revised curriculum in Tourism included three (3) units of ABACUS (Travel Industry Computer Reservation System) to prepare the students for using Information technology in the business world. Seventy-Two (72) graduating students were given optional training in ABACUS with a Certificate of Proficiency upon completion, along with some faculty members who received complimentary training from ABACUS in preparation for the integrated system in the Tourism Program. The college underwent its first re-survey visit for level II on November 7–9 of the same year by AACCUP. 

The Tourism and Transportation Management Department realized a need for a more systematic extension along with the growth of its programs. Service must be given emphasis. The result of the first re-survey visit served as an eye-opener that extension service should not depend on what the benefactors can give but more on how the beneficiaries will get full advantage of the program. So, in 2002, a research entitled "Baseline Study on the Living Condition of the Residents of Brgy. 428, Zone 43 at Paltoc, Sta. Mesa Manila" was initiated. The research output was a basis for the department's community-based extension programs with lecture series on value formation, literacy, outreach tours and livelihood training. 

Faculty members attended seminars and workshops on research and got involved in writing research. Senior students were continuously given optional training in ABACUS, with at least two faculty members joining them every training period. A memo from CHED led to the revision of the Tourism and HRM curricula. In the revised curriculum, some Tourism and HRM major subjects were included in both programs. 

The department continued its links with various agencies, both public and private. In preparation for the World Tourism Organization's (WTO) declaration of "Visit Philippines 2003, the Department of Tourism (DOT) sponsored a tour-guiding seminar for tourism students attended by participants from different universities, including PUP students. 

To address the readiness for global competitiveness in academia and industry, the graduating students were encouraged to participate in the International Apprenticeship Program in Singapore and the United States in 2005–2009. After a thorough screening, some graduating students who completed the international internship abroad were offered to work abroad after their training. 

Faculty members continued building capacity by attending Amadeus Training in Reservations and Ticketing as GDS became part of the revised curriculum. The program's Quality assurance was evidenced by the department's passing the AACCUP Accreditation until it reached Level 3 Re-Accredited status. The program was also part of ISO Certification 2018, including its revisits and institutional accreditation.