Next week we welcome to Bournemouth University Department of Tourism and Hospitality  Dr Marta Laguna from the Department of Business and Marketing and Vice Dean for Economic Affairs and Facilities in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Communication at the at the University of Valladolid, Segovia, Spain as part of the Erasmus Training Week. Her research areas are closely connected to Marketing and Tourism: satisfaction, loyalty, e-tourism, consumer behaviour and tourist and event experiences.

The excellent positioning of the University of Bournemouth, its intense and varied research activity and the high satisfaction level of the students made Marta to choose us to visit. We will discuss a range of opportunities for research and teaching collaborations and explore alternative teaching methods to broaden our knowledge of international universities and to foster our practical learning skills. We look forward to exchange experiences with Marta and establish collaboration with the International Centre for Tourism Hospitality Research and eTourism Lab.

 Marta Laguna García is Vice Dean for Economic Issues, Resources and Infrastructures in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Valladolid (Campus Segovia) where she is developing her teaching and research activities as Assistant Professor of the Department of Business and Marketing. She holds a PhD in Economics and Business Studies from the Autonoma University of Madrid. She began her research experience in the field of tourism as Research Assistant at the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism (Spanish Government) (1994-1996) thanks to a Research Grant for developing her research activity in the General Department of Planning and Prospects Tourism and the Institute of Tourism studies (TURESPAÑA). She has developed her teaching and research career at the Autonoma University of Madrid (Assistant Professor), the University Sek- IE University (Head of Department of Social Science, Law and Economics), the University Alfonso X el Sabio (Director of Degree in Tourism) and the European University (Spain); having spent several periods in European Univerities as the London Metropolitan University (UK) and the University of Applied Sciences (HochschuleZittau-Görlitz). She has taught at Masters and Postgraduates in different Universities such as the Paulista Institute of Sciences and Business (Curitiba, Brazil) belonging to the Faculty of Management of Sao Paulo, University Carlos III (Madrid), the University of Cadiz, IE Business School and The Ortega y Gasset Institute (Madrid). She has been a member of the Technical Committee of Socio-Economic Observatory of Segovia (2002-2011) and Director of the Research Line in Tourism (2006-2011), Organization in which she was previously Director of Consumer Research (2002-2005).

Marta has participated in several research projects funded by various Agencies and Institutions: (LIFE-TIERMES Project and Friends of the Museum of Tiermes, EUCYL-NORTE Project funded under the Spain-Portugal Program Community Initiative 2 INTERREG III A, Castilla y Leon – Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education, Royal Academy of Economics and Finance of Spain. Her works have been presented in more than thirty national and international conferences. She has published her research work in Journals such as Tourism Management, International Journal of Tourism Research, Current Issues in Tourism, European Review of Management and Business Economics, Revista Portuguesa de Marketing, Distribution and Consumer Affairs, Tourism Studies, Tourism Papers, etc. She is coauthor of two books recently published: “Tourism: A Global Vision”, editorial Aranzadi and “Psycologhy and Motivation” editorial Nova Publisher (USA). She has worked in different Teaching Innovation Projects (2006-2008, 2013-2014) funded by the Agency for the University System of Castilla and Leon and the Ministry of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León and the University of Valladolid. Her research areas are closely connected to Marketing and Tourism: satisfaction, loyalty, e-tourism and destination experiences (especially in cultural and gastronomy places).