Nanjing Tourism Vocational College was established with the approval of Jiangsu Provincial People's Government, and it is the only higher vocational college in Jiangsu Province sponsored by the Provincial Tourism Bureau. The college was formerly known as Jinling Hotel Management Cadre College and Nanjing Tourism School. Jinling Hotel Management Cadre College and Jinling Hotel Training Center is a national key construction project proposed by Dr. Goh Keng Swee, a former Singaporean deputy prime minister and China tourism consultant, and approved by five deputy prime ministers including the State Council Gu Mu, Yao Yilin and Tian Jiyun in 1986. 1989, approved by the state education commission, became the first college in China to train management talents in the tourist hotel industry. Under the dual leadership of the National Tourism Administration and the Jiangsu Provincial Government, it is an administrative institution established for the deputy department level and managed locally by the Jiangsu Provincial Tourism Administration. At the beginning of the college, a four-star Nanjing Central Hotel was attached as an internship hotel. Since 199 1, the college has started to hold training courses on the establishment of national tourist hotels and the positions of general manager and department manager. Up to now, nearly 50,000 middle and senior management talents of various types and levels have been trained for the whole country, with students all over the country. Since 1992, the college has recruited full-time adult higher education and general higher education students for the whole country and the province respectively.

Nanjing Tourism School is the first tourism school in China, and its predecessor is Jiangsu Tourism School. 1978 according to the instructions of the provincial party Committee, Jiangsu Tourism School was established, which mainly offers three majors: hotel service, cooking technology and tourism driving. At the beginning of the school, it belonged to the director of Jiangsu Foreign Affairs Office, and 1979 was handed over to the director of Jiangsu Tourism Bureau. The school is located in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province. 1982, with the approval of the provincial government, a new school site was established at Huayangang 1, Gulou District, Nanjing. 1984 Nanjing Tourism School was established on the basis of Jiangsu Tourism School, and its nature was changed from a technical school to a secondary specialized school. The school began to recruit high school graduates from 1984 for two years, aiming at training junior and middle managers of tourist hotels, and recruited junior high school graduates from 1993. Since 2000, five-year higher vocational students have been enrolled.

In 200 1 year, with the approval of Jiangsu Provincial People's Government, Jinling Hotel Management Cadre College merged with Nanjing Tourism School, becoming the most important tourism talent training base in Jiangsu Province and the largest hotel talent training center in China. In June 2007, with the approval of Jiangsu Provincial People's Government, the college was successfully transformed into Nanjing Tourism Vocational College, becoming the only higher vocational college in the province. At the same time, the new campus of Nanjing Jiangning University Town is under construction and will be put into use in 2008, when the conditions for running schools will be greatly improved.