Tourism and Hospitality

Bournemouth Graduate named Young Business Person of the Year

Posted December 10, 2013. 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 December 4, 2013. 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

“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.”

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

By Dr Bruce Grant-Braham

Hospitality students represent BU at The EMCup in Amsterdam

Posted November 28, 2013. 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!

Barbara Neuhofer awarded as a winner of the International PhD Student Competition 2013

Posted November 28, 2013. Filed under News.

Barbara Neuhofer has just returned from a two-week overseas trip to Australia where she has been invited as one of the 15 winners of the International PhD Student Competition 2013.

The School of Management, University of South Australia hosted 15 of the world’s top PhD students to participate in an interdisciplinary forum entitled “Management in the 21st Century” in Adelaide, Australia from 11th – 13th November 2013. After receiving 107 applications from 33 countries, 15 winners have been chosen through a rigorous selection process by a panel of academic experts.

Barbara presented her winning paper “The experience economy of the 21^st century: Innovation through technology-enhanced tourism experiences” and participated in a stimulating discussion and knowledge exchange with the 15 PhD students in the areas of strategy, operations management, innovation and entrepreneurship as well as HR management and ethics. As a special honour, Barbara was also invited by the Associate Head of the School to give the official thank-you speech on behalf of the winners at the award ceremony.

Barbara reports that the visit to the University of South Australia (UniSA) was a fantastic experience to meet excellent PhD researchers in the field as well as meet and network with academics in the School of Management of UniSA, including Prof Graham Brown, Dr. Sunny Lee, Dr. Aise Kim and Jenny Davis. Participating in the forum has provided an excellent opportunity to not only explore ideas for future collaboration but also strengthen the existing official partnership between UniSA and Bournemouth University.

Barbara Neuhofer, BU eTourismLab, Bournemouth University receiving her certificate from Prof. David Lloyd (Vice Chancellor and President, University of South Australia) at the award ceremony.

During her trip to Australia, Barbara also took the opportunity to visit two further universities, including the University of Wollongong and the University of New South Wales. In her visits to both campuses, Barbara met with faculty members including Dr. Ulrike Gretzel (University of Wollongong), Prof. Sara Dolnicar (University of Queensland) as well as Dr. Nina Mistilis and Prof. Larry Dwyer from the University of New South Wales.

Barbara reports: “It has been a fantastic experience to participate in this great forum. As the only person selected in the field of tourism, it was a special honour for me to share key insights of my research in the interdisciplinary management forum. The visits to three Australian universities allowed me to strengthen and expand my existing network and look into concrete opportunities for collaboration after the completion of my PhD.”

Sincere thanks go to all people who made this visit possible, Barbara states: “I am very grateful to the UniSA for their generous invitation to fully sponsor my overseas travel, the perfect organisation of the event and the great stay in Adelaide. I would also like to thank all Dr. Ulrike Gretzel and Dr. Nina Mistilis for their warm welcome to their institutions. Last but not least, I would also like to thank the Graduate School and the School of Tourism for their funding contribution to make this trip possible.”

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, Barbara’s supervisor commented “I am delighted that Barbara was selected through tough competition to participate in this sponsored workshop. This is a great recognition of the excellent work that Barbara is doing for her PhD and I am very proud of Barbara’s achievements. Traveling to Australia was a great opportunity for Barbara to extend our existing partnership with the University of South Australia and winning the competition is a real accolade for Barbara and the School of Tourism.”

For more information about the International PhD Student Competition 2013, visit:

http://www.unisa.edu.au/Business/Management/International-PhD-Student-Competition/

Footnote picture: Barbara Neuhofer, BU eTourismLab, Bournemouth University giving the thank-you speech at the award ceremony.

ITCH on how to create genuine brand engagement

Posted November 26, 2013. Filed under Guest speakers, News.

The final guest lecture for the semester was given by Michael White founder and partner of ITCH and Mona Mothadi PA & Operations Manager.

ITCH is an independent experiential event marketing agency based in central London & celebrated their 10th birthday last year. Their client roster includes: Virgin Media, Google, UEFA and Virgin Atlantic. Their visit was an opportunity for Events & Leisure students to hear more about the work ITCH does along with an opportunity to learn more about placement and graduate roles on offer.

Mike gave the audience some great insight into what makes good experiential activities. In today’s market customers are more savvy than ever before and don’t want to be sold to or talked to. They want brands that listen to them, have conversations and engage. Agencies have to get more creative and push boundaries. What clients look for are good ideas they are not so concerned with above or below the line. ITCH and other agencies have to come up with great ideas that create genuine brand engagement and also return on investment (ROI). It is important that you don’t just create a cool event but also measure the success. Examples on how to do this is through looking at digital hubs, conversations and channels where audience engage. Mike also emphasized the importance of great client service and management but also innovation and development.

Mona told the audience that ITCH are very keen to get in touch with students and graduates that are interested in the business. They are happy to discuss and find a way to work together with students as well as academic staff. She described various opportunities such as placements, graduate jobs, and dissertation and research projects. Two final year BAEM students, Stacey Crouch and Holly Wood (who did placement with them last year) were available and answered questions from students. When asked what they had learned they replied that they had gained confidence to stand on their own, trust their judgement and go for it!

By: Maria Näs

Emma Kavanagh awarded prestigious prize at Brunel

Posted November 19, 2013. Filed under News.

Emma Kavanagh, Lecturer in Sport Psychology and Coaching Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious Celia Brackenridge Prize for the best emerging presenter at the Brunel International Research Network for Athlete Welfare (BIRNAW) Symposium at Brunel University.

BIRNAW is a group of international researchers who are working together to promote athlete welfare through research and consultancy. The work conducted by the group focuses on investigating the antecedents, prevalence and consequences of abusive relationships in sport. The symposium brought together leading academics from around the world to present the latest research in the area. The prize was awarded on the basis of Emma’s two presentations at the event. The first introduced a conceptual framework for understanding virtual maltreatment in sport and the second introduced a humanization framework for enhancing understanding of athlete welfare.

Receiving the award is great achievement given that the symposium consists of the leading researchers worldwide in the area of athlete welfare. Celia Brackenridge is internationally acknowledged as the worlds leading academic in the field of child protection and athlete welfare and was impressed with the standard of work being completed at Bournemouth University. This achievement has really helped in putting BU on the world stage in the field of athlete protection in sport and has led to a number of potential future collaborations with international partners.

By Emma Kavanagh & Dr Ian Jones

Dr Katherine King visits Vancouver Island University

Posted November 18, 2013. Filed under News, Research.

Dr Katherine King has recently returned from a 2 week visiting scholarship to the Faculty of Management at Vancouver Island University (VIU) which saw her take part in range of teaching, community engagement and research activities.

The visiting scholar programme is an integral component of the World Leisure Centre of Excellence accredited Masters in Sustainable Leisure Management led by the Department for Tourism and Recreation at VIU. During her stay Dr King was invited to lead a public lecture for the World Leisure Centre Innovation Infusion series to discuss public policy approaches to lifestyle sport provision. Katherine also supported Dr Nicole Vaugeois in teaching case studies in sustainability and innovation which included a field study to the West coast of British Colombia to explore rural sustainability with community stakeholders. Whilst Dr King and Dr Vaugeois delivered a public lecture at VIU’s Powell River campus entitled ‘Innovative solutions to Sustainability’ drawing upon her work with young people in rural areas to explore nature values amongst youth groups. Dr King was also invited to visit Capilano University where she met with mountain biking programme leader Lydia Watson to discuss research interests in this area.

Dr Philip Alford in Austria to share knowledge about online marketing

Posted November 14, 2013. Filed under News, Research.

Dr Philip Alford was invited by Bernard Wildauer of the Zillertal Tourism School to present to tourism teachers from all over Austria on the subject of online tourism marketing. The aim was to provide the teachers with specialist knowledge in the area of online marketing which they could then take back into the classroom. As part of his presentation Dr Alford talked about the Digital Destinations project, funded by the ESRC, and explained some of the insights that he had obtained through leading the project, including:

The lack of formal digital marketing planning at micro business level
Importance placed by micro players on peer to peer learning and support
Increasing need to consider the whole ‘customer journey’
Optimise use of customer reviews and advocacy through social media

The presentation was very well received and set the scene for the workshops run by Bernard Wildauer of the Zillertal Tourism School and Werner Gschwenter of TourismusTraining.

Dr Alford has been invited back next year to talk about how he uses the Google Online Marketing Challenge in his Digital Marketing Unit.

BU academic at United Nations expert meeting

Posted November 12, 2013. Filed under News.

Dr Maharaj Vijay Reddy from the School of Tourism was one of very few speakers invited to an Expert Group Meeting on ‘Sustainable Tourism: Ecotourism, Poverty Reduction and Environmental Protection’, at the United Nations Secretariat, New York (29-30 October 2013). This expert group meeting was organised by the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development.

Vijay’s presentation was on the topic of planning for sustainable tourism, and highlighted six emerging global challenges in sustainable tourism.

The UN General Assembly, at its 67th session (2012-2013), adopted a resolution on the promotion of ecotourism for poverty eradication and environmental protection, which further elaborated on the close linkages and potential for ecotourism to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. In this regard, the United Nations invited the UN system and other relevant international organizations, the public sector, private companies and other stakeholders to create capacity for well managed ecotourism with minimal negative environmental and cultural impacts, through dissemination of good practice, tools and guidelines. The conclusions and recommendations emanating from this meeting will be of value to UN member states aiming to develop eco-tourism potentials, including, among others, Small Island Developing States as well as other countries with coastal, mountainous or forest, lake or desert tourism resources.

Vijay commented that “the meeting was a big success and it concluded well. The participants of this expert group meeting delivered many cutting-edge presentations addressing the global challenges and the opportunities that sustainable tourism offers. The key areas we discussed at the UN include: the need for global engagement, the situation of Small Island Developing States and LDCs, developing the market for sustainable tourism services, assessing socio-economic benefits, employment generation and poverty reduction from sustainable tourism and initiatives related to Green Economy transition”.

The organisations represented include the World Bank (IBRD, IFC), UNWTO, UNEP, the European Commission, UNESCO, the World Trade Organisation and representatives from China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Isl. Rep of Iran, Madagascar, Morocco, Samoa (Pacific Islands), Rep. of Korea, Thailand, or Southern Europe and the Caribbean region. The experts attended the UN NY expert group meeting aim to continue working together to advance sustainable tourism goals.

BU Lecturer wins ‘Best Emerging Presenter’ award

Posted November 12, 2013. Filed under News.

Congratulations to Emma Kavanagh, Lecturer in Sport Psychology and Coaching Sciences, who has been awarded the prestigious Celia Brackenridge Prize for the best emerging presenter at the Brunel International Research Network for Athlete Welfare (BIRNAW) Symposium at Brunel University. BIRNAW is a group of international researchers who are working together to promote athlete welfare through research and consultancy. The work conducted by the group focuses on investigating the antecedents, prevalence and consequences of abusive relationships in sport. The symposium brought together leading academics from around the world to present the latest research in the area.

The prize was awarded on the basis of Emma’s two presentations at the event. The first introduced a conceptual framework for understanding virtual maltreatment in sport and the second introduced a humanization framework for enhancing understanding of athlete welfare.

Receiving the award is great achievement given that the symposium consists of the leading researchers worldwide in the area of athlete welfare.