Bournemouth University is well renowned for its tourism and hospitality courses. The MSc Tourism Management has affiliations with the following organisations:

• The United Nations World Tourism Organisation
• Tourism Management Institute (TMI)
• Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT)
• Tourism Society (TS)
• International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT)
• Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE)

Hence, it is not surprising that the Bournemouth University Business School makes every effort to give its tourism (and hospitality) students the best of industry exposure to provide a wholesome academic experience. As a Tourism Management student, I, recently, had the privilege of attending the BU Tourism and Hospitality Conference 2023.

The theme of this year’s conference “Sustainability and Resilience in a Permacrisis” focussed on building resilience into an organization’s strategy whilst embracing the opportunities and challenges of environmental and sustainability agendas.

During the conference, students and academics from Bournemouth University Business School had the excellent opportunity to network with invited speakers and discuss contemporary issues in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Representatives of multiple professional travel and tourism associations and around 30 companies were present at the conference to share their experience and advise students on the best way to achieve their career goals. It was a unique opportunity for us students to develop our network and investigate potential opportunities to satisfy our career aspirations. During the coffee and lunch breaks, we got ample time to meet the recruiters and understand their current needs and requirements in the workforce.

Panel 1 at the Tourism and Hospitality Conference

The conference kicked off with an enlightening talk by Robert Richardson, CEO of the Institute of Hospitality. Each speaker spoke passionately about the work they were doing, their sustainability programmes and their commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There were two extremely insightful panel discussions regarding “Female Leaders’ Resilience” and “Thriving in Chaos”. It was inspiring to see and listen to these amazing all women panels taking on the world with their talent and feisty attitude.

Panel 2 at the Tourism and Hospitality Conference

I had a particularly informative chat with one of the panellists, Danielle Myers, who heads Learning and Development at TAG, a travel management company.

Herself a BU graduate in Public Relations, Danielle has been a part of TAG for more than 8 years. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I may have just found the first company I would apply to when I am closer to my graduation!

The conference left us all with a message that the world is coming together, to understand and practice sustainability, to make this earth more resilient and a better place to live, for us and the future generations.