Guest Blog: Miguel Moital shares his experiences of visiting conferences in Brazil:

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News.

I recently returned from Brazil, where I spoke at two tourism conferences in São Paulo. Attendance of these two conferences follows from the work I have been carrying out about the barriers to publishing in English Language Tourism Journals (ELTJ) by Brazilian tourism academics. At present, only around 30 articles have been published in ELTJ by academics affiliated to Brazilian institutions. In order to understand the reasons behind this rather low level of publication, in April I interviewed 17 academics from 5 different universities.

The first conference was the IX ANPTUR – The annual conference of the Brazilian Association of Tourism Research and Post-graduation (Anhembi Morumbi University, 30-31 August). This is the third time I have attended the ANPTUR conference, having been a keynote speaker both in 2008 and 2010. My active participation in this year’s conferences involved running a 2h30m workshop on the differences between publishing in a Brazilian and English language tourism journals. There are many differences both in terms of the research process on which the publication is based, and how the research is communicated. However, in my interviews with Brazilian academics it became clear that the overwhelming majority were not aware of such differences. This is not surprising because virtually none had gone through the process of submitting a paper to these journals.

In my session, three topics were covered – communication (both language and linguistic issues), literature review and research process/methodology. Simple things like the length of sentences can make a difference on how the research is perceived by the reader. Articles in Brazilian tourism journals tend to feature much longer sentences. I gave an example from a Brazilian journal where a sentence contained 129 words! In the example from an ELTJ, no sentence had more than 3 lines. In the literature review section, I explained the three types of literature review (theoretical, integrative and methodological), and emphasised the need to include mainly journals and in English language journals (books and national journals are the norm in articles published in Brazilian tourism journals). I also explained the three levels of analysis at which a literature review can be done: descriptive, analytical and evaluative. With regards to the methodology-process aspects, ELTJ are much more detailed about the process of research, which reflects a concern with the validity and reliability of the evidence required to produce conclusions.

A total of 26 academics participated in the workshop and their feedback was tremendously positive. I have been in discussions with two Brazilian colleagues (who have done their PhD in the UK / Australia) for a while with a view to organise a two-day workshop where we would share our experiences of publishing in ELT journals, much in the light of this workshop. We have now drafted a programme for the workshop and are finalising a proposal to be submitted to CNPq (a Brazilian research funding body).

The second conference was the V CLAIT – Latin American Tourism Research Conference (São Paulo University, 3-5 September). The main involvement in this conference was through presenting the results of a review of the 28 publications in tourism ELJ by Brazilian academics. Some conclusions from the review include:

  • The number of tourism publications by academics affiliated to Brazilian institutions is remarkably low, which leads to a lack of international visibility. However, those that exist tend to be of a good standard (as given by the ABS rating);
  • The first author tends to be Brazilian and the majority of papers did not involve foreign academics. However, publication in English language journals is still somewhat dependent on collaboration with foreign academics or Brazilian academics who have studied in the UK/USA, notably when it comes to publishing in the top journals (3/4-rated);
  • Articles tend to use primary data collection, however the methods section of those who claim to have collected primary data is not always very detailed (specially when interviews and/or content analysis are used).
  • From the three areas of tourism, hospitality and events, past research has focused mainly on tourism, and to a less extent on the hospitality sector. Only one article on events was published.
  • Studies tend to be biased towards studying the relationship between the public sector and tourism, often from a sustainability/ecology/environment point of view, at the expense of the private sector/business side of the industry.

I was also invited to chair one of the sessions on Tourism & Marketing. On the 6th of September there was a TEFI (Tourism Futures Education Initiative) meeting, which I also attended.

School of Tourism Welcomes it’s New Post Grad Students

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Yesterday, the School of Tourism welcomed over 130 new postgraduate students to the School of Tourism.

The new starters were welcomed with tea and cakes in the Retreat and had a chance to mingle with other students and staff. The majority of our post grad students are international so the informal welcome was a chance for them to get to know the staff and the other new students.

We would just like to take this opportunity to wish all our new starters good luck and we hope you have a brilliant first term.

School of Tourism Alumni Hall of Fame

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Here at the School of Tourism we are very proud of our Alumni and we like to show case what they have got up to and how far they have travelled.

To celebrate this fact we are putting together a School of Tourism Hall of Fame. The “Hall of Fame” will consist of photos of our alumni in exciting places with a small caption that will be eventually displayed in the School of Tourism.

If you are part of our alumni we would love to receive pictures from you! We are looking for exciting pictures of you all around the world and a small caption about what you’re doing now and explaining the photo.

It could be anything from working in a foreign country to working or being part of the Olympics – we would love to hear from you!

The only requirements are you are in the photo and that you are part of the School of Tourism Alumni!

If you would like to get involved please send your photo and a small caption to Anna Jones ajones@bournemouth.ac.uk

Please note by sending your image you consent to it being used in School of Tourism Hall of Fame and potentially other promotional material.

New Additions to the School of Tourism

Posted . Filed under News.

Over the summer and after a lengthy interview process, we are happy to announce some new arrivals and promotions within the School of Tourism.

Dr Avital Biran will be joining us from the University of Surrey/Ben-Gurion University as a senior lecturer in October 2012. Avital will be joining the Tourism management team when he arrives.

Dr Anya Chapman will be starting in January 2013 as a Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management from the Liverpool Hope University.

Neil Cockbill will be joining the Events and Sports Management team as Associate Lecturer in Events and Sports Management.

Nicole Ferdinand will also be joining the Event Management team in January as a Senior Lecturer from London Metropolitan University.

Kate Jones who started on 10th September, has been appointed as a Demonstrator in Events Management

Dr Yeganeh Morakabati who started on September 1st, will be joining us as a Senior Lecturer, from the  University of Plymouth. Yeganeh will be lecturing in Tourism and Hospitality Management

Lucy Sheppard, who joined us in early September as an Associate Lecturer in Sport Management.

Richard Ward, who also joined us from early September from Cardiff University and will be teaching Hospitality Management.

Our final new addition is Dr Nigel Williams who will be joining us in January as a Senior Lecturer from University of Bedfordshire as part of the Event Management team.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that. Dr Neelu Seetaram has been promoted to Senior Lecturer.

Congratulations to Neelu and Welcome to all our new staff.

Bournemouth University School of Tourism at the Olympics

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

It has been a great summer for Great Britain with the Olympic and Paralympic games being held in London and Bournemouth University School of Tourism has been right at the heart of it:

Several of our staff and students have been involved throughout the whole summer of the games. With roles ranging from Games makers, to Torchbearers, volunteers, venue managers and researchers, the School of Tourism has been thoroughly involved with the London 2012 Games.

Staff:

The School of Tourism has 3 lecturers who were nominated to be Torchbearers. Dr. Debbie Sadd, Dr. Dorothy Fox and Alexis Major were all chosen to carry the torch when it comes through the Dorset area from July 12th.  Dr. Keith Wilkes, the Dean of the School of Tourism, commented that “the fact that Alexis, Dorothy and Debbie were chosen is a fitting recognition and reward for their long standing contributions to various communities and groups within Bournemouth and Poole”.

Dr. Debbie Sadd has also completed her PhD concerning the Olympics entitled: Mega-events, community stakeholders and legacy; London 2012 around the impacts on the site residents in London and she will be working as a volunteer during the Games in the Basketball arena.

Dr. Matt Frew is also pursuing research around the Olympics. His ground breaking research looks into the use of Live sites and social media:  ‘Live Sites and Social Media: from policy to practice’  This is a study that focuses on how the policy of mega-event Live Sites translate co-created convergence/promotion to active participation through social media.

As well as lecturers being involved in London 2012, the School of Tourism have also helped place lots of current and former students from the school in high profile positions associated with the Olympics. Below are highlighted a few examples of the varied roles that our School of Tourism students have acquired:

 Students:

Our students have been heavily involved in the Games throughout the summer in a variety of roles. Below is just a brief highlight of our current and recently graduated student roles at the Olympics:

  • John Millard was involved in a consultancy project on motivational techniques for staff at Sodexo Prestige for the Olympic Games.
  • Rachel Rhodes was  a London ambassador for a week during the Games at Heathrow Airport
  • Emma Lincoln was working for a ‘behind the scenes’ catering company supplying catering services to the Olympic Broadcasting Services. She was also offered a Games Maker role in the Events Services team at the Handball Arena for the Paralympic Games.
  • Aini Maensivu, was an assistant venue manager at Eton Dorney, the rowing venue.
  • Charlotta Eriksson was volunteering during the Olympics, as part of the Press Operations Team as a photo team member at Excel
  • Zoe Poole, Rongrong Zhang, Eleanor Cole, were among many students working for Sodexo
  • Shun-Han Chang was working in Weymouth as an interpreter
  • Jessica Bailey was working with one of the marketing partners to deliver their hospitality programme centred around the Games.
  • Mustafa Saricalar was also working on the Games as a transportation team leader
  • Leroy-Winston Scott was working at both Games looking after the National Olympic Committees with roles including driving the delegations around from athletes to ambassadors and will be based at the Olympic village.
  • Valentina Tkachenko  was  working with Jet Set Sports an Official Olympic Games sponsor
  • Harriett Clarke was a volunteer at the Paralympic Swimming. In addition she worked on the Ceremonies in Weymouth & Portland.
  • Lucy Vollborth was part of the protocol team, particularly language services and will be based in the Athlete’s village

Recently graduated Events Management student Sophie Ridge worked within the Sport Information Team for the Gymnastics. Sophie gave us her account of her time working there:

“After working on the gymnastics test Olympics in January I was very excited to start working on the Rhythmic Gymnastics in the Olympics based at Wembley Arena. My role was Sport Information, I was based in an office right next to the field of play, and I could hear everything going on throughout the event which added to the excitement. I worked in a small team of five and between us we had to do 9 hour shifts, either an early morning shift starting at 6am (!) or starting around lunchtime.

Our main responsibilities were to ensure that any paperwork handed in by the gymnasts was processed properly and delivered to the correct location in the arena. This included routine difficulty forms, music submission, score inquiry forms as well as handing out specific letters to each country’s Head of Delegation and providing results and start lists. We also were identified as lost property due to our central location! Overall a variety of different tasks took place as well as a room for countries to celebrate their results!

I met some fantastic people throughout my Olympic journey, whether they were games makers, paid workers, tourists on the tubes as well as gymnasts and coaches.  I also formed a great relationship with someone on the organising committee for the 2016 Olympics in Rio! I was extremely lucky to have been involved in such a historical event and the atmosphere in London has been incredible.  I am definitely on an Olympic come down!”

The School of Tourism would like to congratulate all our students and staff in helping to put on such a successful Games.

Bournemouth University Sports Management helps to narrow the gap between what employers want and what graduates have to offer:

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Gary Evans, a new addition to the Bournemouth University Sports Management team, has recently been cited in The Sport & Physical Activity Industry Magazine (S&PA Professional), the magazine sent to all Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) members.

The article, which was part of the Education Issue, focuses on are universities that offer sporting degrees on the right track.

Gary argues that over the past ten years there has been a narrowing of the gap between what employees want and what graduates have to offer after leaving university.

Gary believes that this narrowing of the gap has come about through a combination of the Higher Education Academy’s excellent employability work and Higher Education Institutes collaboration with professional institutes such as CIMSPA.

“Higher Education Institutes are now using their employer networks more effectively to ensure the relevance of the circular they offer” says Gary “University career services are focusing on the employability needs of students, offering “graduate passports” – a record of achievement including extra-curricular activity and employability – and personal development planning / work placement modules”

“The best employability practice is to embed National Occupational Standards (NOS) into their undergraduate curricula”

Gary believes that by embedding the NOS and competencies and behaviours of a professional institute like CIMSPA, students will acquire the professional knowledge they need to be ready for the workplace.

Sport Management students will have access to the S & PA Professional magazine through Gary’s member status. However, if anyone would like to see the full PDF of this article please email ajones@bournemouth.ac.uk for a copy.

Two School of Tourism Academics Published in American Hosteur Magazine:

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Professor Adele Lankin and Dr Susan Horner, both from the School of Tourism, have recently been published in the 20th anniversary issue of Hosteur magazine.

Hosteur magazine is the magazine for future Hospitality and Tourism Professionals and is published as part of CHRIE, the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education.

The latest edition featuring Adele and Susan, is based around the theme “Vision 20/20: The Hospitality and Tourism Industry in 2020” and showcases how experts believe to see the industry shaped by 2020.

In December 2011, academic leaders in hospitality and tourism education were invited to write commentaries about how they see the future of the industry developing. Adele, Susan, and four others, provided commentaries from a European perspective.

Susan believes that there are “Exciting and challenging times ahead for the industry”. Susan continues “There will be many new opportunities across the world as new market segments continue to develop. Universities must provide the talented individuals to work in the sector who will have to be able to adapt to rapid change and think strategically.”

“The hospitality and tourism providers however will have to recruit and develop these talented individuals and dispel the negative views that exist at the present time about working in this exciting and demanding sector as well as offering exciting career opportunities to people from all back grounds and cultures.”

Whereas Susan focused on the industry as whole in her article, Adele focused on the workforce of the hospitality and tourism industry. The purpose of her commentary was to consider the “people” element of the tourism industry.

“In terms of the skill base of the tourism workforce in 2020, we are likely to see continued diversity. Currently there is a whole range of occupations with different skill requirements. Given the continued growth in the tourism and hospitality education providers from further education colleges through to universities, it may be those working in the industry have some formal education or vocational training directly related to the industry”.

Adele finalises her commentary by stating “People are a vital element of the tourism industry. They will matter in 2020, as they matter now”

Congratulations to both Susan and Adele on this publication.

To read their articles in full please see http://www.chrie.org/publications/hosteur/current-issue/index.aspx

Bournemouth University Retail Management Placement Experience for SymphonyIRI Insight Analyst:

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

As well as sharing news with you from the School of Tourism, we also like to share student experiences. Today’s blog comes from Tom Grigoleit who is on his placement year from the Retail Management degree. Below, Tom shares his experiences from his placement:

’During my 2nd year at university I was fortunate enough to be selected for the SymphonyIRI Insight Analyst placement within the Retail Department. Having no preconceptions of a Market Research placement year, I had no idea what the job entailed and how the business worked at SymphonyIRI. At the beginning of the placement year it was a massive culture shock compared to working part-time at Sainsbury’s (my only prior job experience) and the amount to learn was never ending! To put it in simple terms, SymphonyIRI purchase EPOS data from retailers to then analyse and create client-friendly solutions.

 I was positioned as an Insight Analyst working on the Asda account, providing pricing analysis against their competitors. With the emphasis of running reports mainly in Microsoft Excel and Access, I soon became proficient in both applications. On a daily basis I was managing Asda’s expectations and developing the relationship between SymphonyIRI and the Pricing team at Asda.

 Being a Retail Management student, I started a weekly Retail newsletter that went out to 200 UK employees which covered all the top news from the Retail industry. Now, it is shared with the biggest names in FMCG such as P&G, Unilever, Beiersdorf, Boots, Asda and Nestle, which is distributed to over 1,000 business professionals across the industry. This has widely benefitted our business by directly developing relationships with our clients across the UK operations.

 Having mastered my reporting deliverables, I wished to pursue further challenges. Building relationships internally enabled me to have the incredible opportunity of presenting to the Customer and Marketing Insight team at Alliance Boots head office in Nottingham. I presented to them on the topic of ‘UK Grocery insight and Multi-Channel retailing’. My presentation received strong feedback which I greatly appreciated, but the experience of being in a professional environment under those circumstances was invaluable to my professional development.

 I then had the opportunity to go to Asda Head Office in Leeds to lead several meetings on our processes and how we can streamline our services to Asda. The meetings again were fantastic experiences and the discussions had positive outcomes. Having co-ordinated projects which required liaising with both colleagues and Asda throughout the year, this was a great opportunity to discuss the queries that needed clearing up.

 Overall, my placement experience was totally different to anyone else’s, but the experience’s I’ve had were incredible for my future development, and I thank SymphonyIRI for such a great placement year.’

Catherine Stanley – BSc Sports Management Placement Experience at Octagon Athletes & Personalities

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

We have been beginning to share with you news from our students who undertook a placement year this year. Today we share Catherine Stanley’s experience of working at Octagon Athletes & Personalities:

“I wasn’t sure what to expect from a placement, but when I was offered a job working for the global leaders in Sport’s Marketing and Management, I couldn’t turn it down!

Although my placement was unpaid (even expenses weren’t covered), my experience has been incredible, and I can enter my final year of University knowing that I have career options when I graduate.

As an intern at Octagon, I was given the responsibility of a Client Manager, which allowed me to work one on one with athletes and sports personalities, managing their day to day media requests, as well as seeking new sponsorship and endorsement deals. I worked with sportsmen and women from a variety of sports including football, tennis, cricket, swimming, boxing and athletics. Attending athlete appearance days and photo-shoots were common, and it was a great chance to get out of the office and experience something different.

As my skills and confidence developed, I was given the opportunity to work with a number of brands, helping them to activate sponsorship of sportsmen and women. On one occasion, I was asked to contract a number of legendary footballers for a television advert and attend the filming as the representative from Octagon.

During the Wimbledon Champions 2012, my role was to help manage the hospitality programme that we run for an external company. I was given an access all areas pass, which meant I could enjoy the Tennis whilst working! We hosted a number of parties in the evenings for players and sponsors, including Pam Shriver’s 50th Birthday, which was a real honour to be involved in.

Soon after Wimbledon came the Olympics. As some of our athletes were competing, my role was to help arrange media appearances, which I was able to attend at various Olympic venues. To be involved in the Olympics was truly amazing, and to have experienced the Olympics from an Athlete’s perspective was even more incredible.

Out of everything that has happened this year I have two highlights.

  1. Meeting Frank Lampard at a Sport Relief filming day
  2. Running at the Olympic stadium, in the first ever 4x100m relay race

My advice to anybody seeking a placement would be to go for the experience and to take every opportunity given to you, regardless of how big or small it may seem – you never know where things might lead!

The placement is only one year, and it is the most important year of University, as it creates the foundations of your career.”

PhD Experiment Help Needed:

Posted . Filed under Research.

Are you new to the area? One of our PhD students is running an experiment on people who are new to an area and is looking for people to take part. See below for the invitation:

I would like to invite you to participate in a mobile experiment we are running. We are trying to find out how the latest smartphone technologies can help travelers explore a new place in a more easy and natural way.

During the study I will ask you to take a short walk with me in the city centre (similar to a guided tour), visiting some key attractions and sights. I will ask you to look at the screen of a smartphone. Afterwards, we will sit down for coffee/tea and we will discuss your experience. 

This will take approx. one and a half hours and you will be given £10 as a recompense for your efforts.

You do NOT need to prepare anything in advance, have experience with smartphones or know how they work. The study is anonymous and the data will be confidential (I will not report your name or personal information in my final thesis).

I am completely flexible with the dates and time and we can run this whenever it is comfortable for you between 11th September – 27th September. 

If you would like to take part just send me a short message on 

– e-mail: zyovcheva@bournemouth.ac.uk 

– facebook: Zornitza Yovcheva 

– mobile: +44 (0) 7411 716045

– skype: z.yovcheva