Students contribute ideas to the Shire Hall Project

Posted . Filed under Featured, News.

Students studying Visitor Attractions Management within the School of Tourism paid a visit recently to the Shire Hall in Dorchester, where they were given a behind the scenes tour by the project team.

Shire Hall, a grade 1 listed building, houses the Old Crown Court and Cells, where Thomas Hardy once sat as a magistrate and the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried. The Project was recently awarded Heritage Lottery Fund Round 1 development funding, and as part of this a workshop was held where ideas were tested and the students were asked to come up with their own potential themes and ideas for the proposed attraction, including a name. Martin Cooke, lead consultant working with West Dorset District Council, thanked the students for their participation which provided useful input to help inform their bid for Stage 2 Heritage Lottery Funding.DSC06447

By: Steven Richards

 

Have you heard about the new Disaster Management Centre?

Posted . Filed under Featured, News.

Have you heard about the new Disaster Management Centre at School of Tourism, Bournemouth University? It was recently mentioned in the paper Modern Ghana.

Ghana – Daily Graphic Media Release – DM Course in Accra (14 Jan 14)

IDMC-Brochure-2014p1IDMC-Brochure-2014p2

If you are interested in learning more about the Disaster Management Centre at Bournemouth University please visit:

http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/training-course/international-disaster-management/short-course/471/

Contact: Zoe Larrad 01202 961260  zlarrad@bournemouth.ac.uk

Course dates:

  • 17th to 28th March 2014
  • 15th to 26th September 2014

Bournemouth University eTourism Lab leads at the ENTER 2014 Digital Tourism Conference in Dublin

Posted . Filed under Featured, News.

Bournemouth University eTourism Lab leads at the ENTER 2014 Digital Tourism Conference in Dublin. From January 21-24 the famous ENTER 2014 will bring together again the eTourism community from all over the world for an exciting week full of eTourism events centered around the conference theme ‘Where Social Inspiration meets Dynamic eTourism Innovation’. Heavily involved in the organization and research aspect of this conference are also several members from the eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University.enter2014

ENTER has been organized by the International Federation for Information Technology and Travel and Tourism (IFITT),for the last 21 years. With Professor Dimitrios Buhalis being the President of IFITT Barbara Neuhofer the Treasurer and Dr Alessandro Inversini the Communications director, the eTourismLab members are heavily involved in developing and delivering the conference. The conference will attract 350 people and will offer an exciting mix of more than 150 keynote presentations, workshops, panel discussions and research sessions on cutting-edge eTourism developments.

The conference programme is organised in three streams. In particular the research stream will focus on the discussion of successfully submitted conference papers by BU eTourism students and academics. The following BU eTourism Lab members will present:

  • Alessandro Inversini and Emma Sykes: An Investigation into the Use of Social Media Marketing and Measuring its Effectiveness in the Events Industry
  • Philip Alford, Yanqing Duan, and Jacqui Taylor. An Analysis of the Key Factors Affecting the Success of a Re-Launched Destination Marketing Website in the UK.
  • Fei Fei Xu, Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and Jessika Weber: Gamification in Tourism
  • Dimitrios Buhalis and Eleni Michopoulou: Usability Requirements for Accessible Tourism Systems
  • Dimitrios Buhalis, Nao Li, Xiangje Qiao, Wei Zhu and Lingyun Zhang: An Agent-Based Simulation Model of Visitor Behaviours for China Tourism Attractions
  • Aditya Amaranggana and Dimitrios Buhalis: Smart Tourism Destinations
  • Marie-Kristin Foerste and Dimitrios Buhalis: SoCoMo Marketing for Travel and Tourism
    • Barbara Neuhofer, Dimitrios Buhalis and Adele Ladkin: Co-Creation through Technology: Dimensions of Social Connectedness

The conference also includes a PhD Workshop which Dr Inversini is co-chairing. The workshop will be a forum for PhD students to interactively discuss their research proposals with peers, colleagues, leading supervisors and scholars in the eTourism field. Among them will be three PhD candidates from Bournemouth University:

  • Jessika Weber: Augmented Reality Gaming: A New Paradigm for Tourist Experiences
  • Meikun Loi:The Influence of Social Media on eWOM in Online Reputation and Brand Personality
  • Barbara Neuhofer: The Technology Enhanced Tourism Experience

All papers have been published in the conference proceedings ‘Information and Communication Technologies Tourism 2014. Proceedings of the International Conference in Dublin, Ireland’, which will accessible for IFITT members on the IFITT Website (www.ifitt.org) and can be purchased online.

Apart from the research track, conference delegates can also enjoy the parallel-running industry and destination tracks where representatives of world-known technology-savvy tourism and technology organisations such as Google, Tripadvisor, Facebook, Digital Tourism Think Tank, Yahoo!, Tourism Ireland, Aboutourism, Bookassist, Realex Payments, Kayak, Amadeusand many more will give insightful presentations. The programme of the conference can be found at http://www.enter2014.org/Programme-60.htm.

The BU eTourism lab explores cutting edge information and communication technologies, alongside e-based strategic management and marketing for the tourism and hospitality industries and is organises a number of eTourism events throughout the year. For more information, please visit http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/etourismlab/about-us/

IFITT President and Director of the eTourism Lab at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University says: “I am proud that so many members of the eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University are involved actively in ENTER and were able to successfully submit their research proposals and papers to the conference. All their research topics tackle very cutting-edge and innovative eTourism approaches, which will be the basis for further investigations and industrial implications. ENTER gives us the opportunity to showcase the innovations we research at Bournemouth, engage in conversation with partners and expand our impact to industry.”

ENTER 2014 expects more than 350 participants and is a must-attend event for experts from academia and industry who are keen on staying updated about the latest news about information and communication technology in travel and tourism. Registrations for ENTER 2014 are still open. Don’t miss out and register now on the website at http://www.enter2014.org/Registration-64.htm.

For more information contact: Professor Dimitrios Buhalis (IFITT President) at ifitt@ifitt.orgor dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk.

By: Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Events Management students from School of Tourism visit high profile venues at London field visit

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

The end of the last term saw the first year Events Management students in School of Tourism on a field visit to two high profile event venues in London.  Tours of ExCeL London, including their new Phase II ICC London space were given to the students by: Martin Avard  (Senior Events Manager) and Tom Edwards (Events Manager).  Students also visited the Barbican Centre in the City and had tours and presentations from: Samme Allen (Barbican Head of Sales for Business Events); Nia Edwards (Business Events Executive) and Oliver Hargreaves (Business Development Manager of Business Events for Barbican).

The field visit helped to underpin the first year students’ understanding of the nature, significance, organisation and impact of the events industry in contemporary terms, and also from a national and international perspective.

The first stop being ExCeL London students were divided into two groups and given extensive walking tours of the ExCeL’s vast space, including sections of two of their 4500 square metre exhibition halls. Students heard about the diversity of events including major trade shows and exhibitions such as London Boat show and the World Travel market.  This included the challenges of the venue hosting seven different competitive events as part of the London 2012 Olympics including for example boxing, fencing and wrestling competitions. They also toured the new ICC London (International Convention Centre) space of the venue, where venue hire can be in the region of £20,000 per day.

Their tour guides shared with the students details of their own career paths in their respective events management fields, through to managing the largest exhibition and convention space in the UK.  First year Events Management student Megan Aitchison said of the ExCel tour: “ExCeL is such a dramatic building that even when approaching the building it has a exciting feel about it. The size of the venue instantly made me think that any sort of event would be able to be hosted here without limitations.  We were shown that the versatility of the size and selections of rooms assist ExCeL with many incredible events that they host”.

The second tour on the day at the Barbican began with a staff presentation to the events students in Cinema 1, with a capacity of 280 people.  The students learned about the range and diversity of events hosted at the Barbican from corporate product launches, official AGM’s, the concert hall home of the LSO along with the hard work involved in delivering high end events and performances to its diverse clientele.  The students also had back stage tours of the main concert hall where they were given talks and tours by the Barbican technical team and included insight into:  backstage, main stage and lighting, and acoustics of Concert Hall events.  First year student Davina Gilbert took the following away from her visit there “the Barbican as a venue space was my favourite; immediately I noticed its personal atmosphere and friendliness. The layout was creative and felt like a mini adventure! You could tell the staff were passionate about their jobs and really believed in the space they were showing. Having a venue space that feels comfortable, friendly, creative and professional certainly speaks volumes more than just large spaces and formal settings”.

This industry specific field visit helps the students to contextualise their learning further in their course, and is a complement to content delivered as part of lectures, seminars, guest speakers and case studies more widely.   Content from the field visit continues to be embedded in one unit and across others delivered at level C.

From http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/01/06/events-management-students-from-school-of-tourism-visit-high-profile-venues-at-london-field-visit/#sthash.Bby9LLA9.dpuf

Guest Speaker Programme 2014

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News.

Welcome to the guest lecture programme 2014.

All staff and students are welcome to attend regardless of programme or level. The guest speakers are from a wide range of businesses and will therefore have generic business interest. For example, Jenni Winter from Ericsson is a Global Talent Management Consultant, Alistair Turner is a Public Relations specialist and Claire Riches is an experienced Marketing professional. In addition there will be presentations from The Bath Priory Hotel, Corinthia London and Le Manoir aux Quats Saisons.

The presentations will take place in the Allsebrook, from 3-4 pm every Tuesday, apart from the Corinthia which takes place in KG03 on Friday 14th February.

Speaker programme 2014

Safety First

Posted . Filed under News.

Bruce Grant-Braham from Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism won the coveted Guild of Motoring Writer’s Road Safety Award at a prestigious dinner held in the presence of Prince Michael of Kent at London’s  RAC Club in Pall Mall on Thursday 5th December.

Ben Schofield of the IAM presents the trophy to speechless Bruce Grant-Braham

Ben Schofield of the IAM presents the trophy to speechless Bruce Grant-Braham

Bruce won the Guild’s Safety Award, presented in memory of former IAM (Institute of Advance Motorists ) Chief Executive Christopher Bullock MBE, which was sponsored by the IAM.

Bruce’s award-winning book “The RAC Essential Driver’s Handbook” gives guidance to motorists about how to avoid or deal with a variety of emergencies that can occur whilst driving. It is specifically targeted at young drivers who may not anticipate how to cope with some of the pitfalls of motoring such as breakdowns, accidents or just being a lone driver.

Bruce’s book was especially praised for its depth of research in front of the two hundred diners.

“I was lost for words when my name was announced,” he said, “which will really surprise my students! A lot of content for the book has come through several decades of driving and then applying academic analysis with the help of the relevant experts.”

Ben Schofield, Communications Manager of the IAM, presented Bruce with the magnificent trophy at the much-anticipated event.

His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent was himself awarded The Guild of Motoring Writers’ brand new Special Award for Contribution to Motoring supported by Kia Motors UK.

Bruce’s book benefited from advice readily provided by Dorset’s Emergency Services and is published on behalf of the RAC by Veloce which is itself based in Poundbury in Dorchester.

2013 GOMW Award winners

2013 GOMW Award winners

By: Bruce Grant-Braham, 9th December 2013

 

Bournemouth Graduate named Young Business Person of the Year

Posted . Filed under News.

Bournemouth Graduate Simon Hood is celebrating this week, after being named Young Business Person of the Year at the Inspire North Hampshire Business Awards.

The head of marketing at international relocation company, HCR Group, impressed judges with a steady stream of outstanding achievements since graduating from Bournemouth University in 2009 studying Leisure Marketing.

With a combination of creative flare and a perceptiveness of market trends, Simon has gained individual business success whilst helping to propel his current employer to the forefront of the marketplace.

“Not only has Simon proved his worth with his employer, being rapidly promoted, but   he has many other entrepreneurial projects,” said Cllr Seán Woodward from award sponsors, Hampshire County Council.

“His achievements include developing and selling top apps, writing a Hampshire Cookbook and organising awards and events – well done Simon.”

Simon’s started his career with HCR as a marketing executive – handling the company’s PR, events, e-marketing and advertising. With a number of successes under his belt – including introducing the company to the digital world through e-marketing, webinars and SEO – he was quickly promoted to his current role, heading up marketing for the entire group.

“I’m not one to relax when I go home at night,” said Simon. “I always have a number of projects on the go. At the moment that includes an app that seems to be proving popular – and another in the pipeline.”

Simon teamed up with two business partners to create the novel poker app and Facebook game – Texas Ask’em Poker. Its combination of poker and trivia won thousands of fans and an impressive 100,000 installs.

“I’m developing my second app now, called Rolling Grandpa. It’s a bit of fun and I’m hoping it will be just as popular as my first venture,” he added.

Simon’s other achievements include the White Cliffs Business Awards. He independently launched the scheme to showcase local business success within South East Kent, with more than 120 business leaders attending the first ceremony in 2012.

And, in April 2013, Simon’s marketing peers elected him to the South East regional board for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Simon is currently leading a team within HCR as part of The Prince’s Trust Million Makers Challenge. The aim is to raise £10,000 for the charity by launching the first ever Hampshire Cookbook – celebrating the county’s local produce and culinary diversity.

“I’m delighted the judges of the Inspire North Hampshire Business Awards have recognised my achievements,” said Simon. “I’m lucky enough to have a career that brings me a tremendous amount of satisfaction. I hope to encourage the next generation of marketeers coming through to work hard, get creative and – most importantly – enjoy getting results from their efforts.”

By: HCR Group

Bruce meets the Tourism Minister at Westminster’s Dorset Day

Posted . Filed under News.

A day celebrating Dorset was recently organised by Annette Brooke MP to showcase the county’s Tourism and Food and Drink industries at The Houses of Parliament to MPs, Lords and their advisors.

The School of Tourism’s Dr Bruce Grant-Braham, who is also the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership’s board member and Tourism lead, was invited to Dorset Day (#dorsetday) to represent the County’s £1.5 billion industry. He said: “Thanks to Annette Brooke’s Dorset Day initiative, Dorset was able to showcase its uniqueness both in food and drink and as a quality tourism destination within easy reach of London.”

Some superb Weymouth Shellfish on display at Dorset Day

Some superb Weymouth Shellfish on display at Dorset Day

“I was allowed to take with me three Gold Medal Winners from the recent Dorset Tourism Awards, sponsored by both BU and the LEP.”

The three winners were Graham Richardson from Poole Tourism’s Welcome Centre, Lorraine Knowles from Lyme Regis Tourist Information Centre and the LEP-sponsored “Winner of Winners” Sherborne’s Eastbury Hotel’s Paul Knight.

One interested visitor to Dorset Day was the Minister for Tourism, Helen Grant, MP. Bruce said, “She listened intently to our concerns about the reduction of local authority support for tourism as well as the negative impact of VAT. She did, though, pass some very flattering comments about Dorset and our Gold Award Winners.”

Bruce Grant-Braham, School of Tourism and Dorset LEP

Left to right Helen Grant, MP, Minister for Tourism, Annette Brooke, MP, Bruce Grant-Braham, School of Tourism and Dorset LEP

Helen Grant later said on on Twitter, “Really enjoyed dropping in on Dorset Day to see what’s on offer in the county and sample some lovely produce. A great tourist destination.”

The Minister’s main stated policy “Helping the UK tourism industry to grow” identifies tourism as “one of the UK’s biggest industries. It helps to create wealth and jobs throughout the country… [The Government] wants to help tourism grow even further by funding campaigns and other promotional work that will inspire more people to visit and explore more parts of Britain.”

Left to right Graham Richardson, Poole Tourism, Annette Brooke, MP, Lorraine Knowles, Lyme Regis TIC, Paul Knight, Eastbury Hotel

Left to right Graham Richardson, Poole Tourism, Annette Brooke, MP, Lorraine Knowles, Lyme Regis TIC, Paul Knight, Eastbury Hotel

By Dr Bruce Grant-Braham

Hospitality students represent BU at The EMCup in Amsterdam

Posted . Filed under News.

The EMCup is a competition amongst the best Hotel Management schools across Europe.

It offers students the chance to kick-start their career in hospitality by giving them the possibility to get personal feedback on their ideas from well renowned professionals, to network and maybe even make a connection that will help them with their future career.

Bournemouth University will be represented by a team of two second year and two final year hospitality students’ Cecilia Mignon, David Rogers, Stephanie Banfield and Roberta Gruzauskaite, under the guidance of BA (Hons) International Hospitality Management course leader Crispin Farbrother.

In preparation for the competition, each team must prepare three assignments, including a small introduction video and a written paper related to the theme, ‘Agenda for the Future’. The team, ‘BUconscious’ has created their video which aims to demonstrate how in BU we fight for a sustainable future.

Please support the team, ‘BUconscious’ by watching, liking and sharing their video: http://youtu.be/ii1MK3CfceA.

The competition will take place in Amsterdam on 15 and 16 January 2014.

Good Luck!