The Director of the UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Department confirms his attendance at the International Conference on ‘Tourism, Climate Change and Sustainability’ (13-14 September) at Bournemouth University

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News, Research.

We are delighted to inform that Mr Luigi Cabrini, the Director of the Sustainable Development of Tourism Programme of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has confirmed his attendance at the conference.

The Sustainable Tourism Programme contributes to one of the strategic goals of the UNWTO with special focus on the Millennium Development Goals.

The Programme undertakes research, develops manuals and provides guidance and training to the Member States and other tourism stakeholders on sustainable tourism policies and their application to tourism destinations.  

Its specific areas of work include: green economy, climate change, biodiversity, poverty alleviation, cultural and natural heritage and their relations with tourism.

More information can be found on the UNWTO Sustainable Development of Tourism website.

For more information on the international conference please visit:  www.bournemouth.ac.uk/climatechange2012

School of Tourism’s Lorraine Brown on her upcoming Study Leave

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Taken from the Bournemouth University Research Blog http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/

Writen by Sam Furr

Dr Lorraine Brown from the School of Tourism has won funding from the Fusion Investment Fund Study leave strand to do research on literary tourism in both Paris and Berlin, She has been invited to visit the prestigious Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University as a visiting researcher in France’s leading tourism research centre (IREST), where she will based to do her primary research and where she will also network with colleagues in IREST’s interdisciplinary research centre.

In Berlin, she will be based in the Geography Department of the world-leading Humboldt University. A qualitative approach will be undertaken, involving observation and interviews over a six-week period at key literary tourist sites in Berlin, one of the top three literary tourism destinations in the world. In line with the Fusion agenda, findings will be published in top tourism journals; they will be disseminated to practitioners; and will inform the syllabus of one of the MSc units that the proposer leads.

At both Universities, Lorraine will explore opportunities for ongoing research collaboration.

If you would like further information on the fund please contact Sam Furr  sfurr@bournemouth.ac.uk

Bournemouth University School of Tourism and the National Costal Tourism Academy

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

On Tuesday 13th August Eric Pickles, MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the allocation of a Coastal Communities Fund grant to the National Coastal Tourism Academy in Bournemouth. The grant of £2 million will create the world’s only specialist coastal tourism academy, with the aim to turn local expertise into knowledge to share with towns across the country and internationally.

Bournemouth was chosen due to its unique position in the tourism industry. Eric Pickles said: “We want Bournemouth to be a catalyst in development. The town already has the infrastructure and resources like Bournemouth University specialising in tourism for this to be a success and to be able to communicate to struggling towns.”

Pickles continued “Bournemouth is a lively and modern coastal resort, but the introduction of this unique and innovative academy could raise its status to one of global significance. Like all good ideas”, I’m astonished it hadn’t been thought of before.”

Professor Alan Fyall, Dr Philip Alford and Dr Philip Long from the School of Tourism worked with Bournemouth Borough Council in ensuring a strong and successful bid emerged.

The School of Tourism will receive a large proportion of the grant and there will be many opportunities for School of Tourism staff to engage with the project, work with the local tourism sector and generate data and research for peer-review journal publications.

 Under the Bournemouth and Poole Joint Tourism Management Board, the Academy will be a combined project involving Bournemouth University, Bournemouth County Council and members of the Poole and Bournemouth Tourism industry. In addition to the economic benefits, Dr Keith Wilkes, Dean of the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University has been celebrating the opportunities the project will bring: “Bournemouth will be host to the first specialist Coastal Tourism Academy anywhere in the world – reflecting Bournemouth’s status as a major coastal tourism destination and the School of Tourism’s national and international reputation as a centre of research excellence and major provider of tourism, hospitality and event management undergraduate and postgraduate education”.

The National Coastal Tourism Academy is a ground breaking knowledge transfer institution, designed to accelerate tourism growth. The project shall be split into three growth initiatives: a Coastal Activity Park, a resort wide visitor experience programme and coastal tourism product research and development programme.  Within the next few years, the National Coastal Tourism Academy will provide world-class educational and professional training to coastal tourism businesses, as well as producing a central sharing database and communications link for teams and individuals looking to expand their knowledge or businesses.

Bournemouth BAEM students shine at Bournemouth Family Festival:

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Four Bournemouth University Event Management first year students that volunteered at the recent Bournemouth Family Festival have been described as “an asset to any employer and Bournemouth University” by the Festival Director Julian Sandy.

Bradley Bishop; Katy Devnish; Maddi Curtis and Hannah Coleman became involved in the event after Dr. Dorothy Fox , Lecturer in Events Management, set up a partnership with the Festival.

The Festival, that took place on July 26th in Meyrick Pack, showcased what Bournemouth has to offer  to its residents and gave children, young people and adults the opportunity to take part in a variety of play activities and workshops

The students were involved with the festival for most of the year and were able to watch the event unfold during the week leading up to the event.

As well as being involved in the planning process throughout the year, the students were given a variety of jobs on the day of the festival. Their roles included stage management; traffic and crowd management; meeting and greeting; runners for the comperes and looking after the performers.

Festival Director Julian Sandy commented “These four worked from 6am to 7pm and they were the best professional students we have had. They are an asset to any employer and Bournemouth University; they shouldn’t just get a degree but an award too!”

For more information on the Festival please see: www.bournemouth.gov.uk/familyfestival

School of Tourism’s Dr. Debbie Sadd’s experience of being a London 2012 Olympic Volunteer

Posted . Filed under News.

Dr. Debbie Sadd, from School of Tourism, had the fantastic opportunity to work as a volunteer with the world’s photographers and journalists covering the basketball at the London Olympic Games. Her duties varied from day to day but involved sitting court side with the photographers making sure they don’t stray from their allotted areas to working ‘backstage’ ensuring all the required technical material is available for them to transmit their stories/photos back to their respective editors. Some days the sports specialists rang through whilst the transmissions were live on US television asking for facts and figures, which have to be available immediately for broadcast in the US.

Debbie’s group had their own system called info+ which contained all the necessary information and they were required to be proficient in its use pretty quickly.

In Debbie’s own words, the experience was “quite stressful and tiring but gosh have I seen some exciting games and met some wonderful people and I even got to see my hero Kobe Bryant!”

School of Tourism becomes part of history with the Olympic Torch

Posted . Filed under News.

The iconic flame made its way through its way to Bournemouth from Poole on the 13th July and remained overnight in Bournemouth before heading onto Christchurch on Saturday 14th July. Dr. Debbie Sadd, Dr. Dorothy Fox and Alexis Major, all from the School of Tourism had the opportunity to carry the flame as it made its historic journey.

Dr. Debbie Sadd and Alexis Major carried the torch the previous day as it came through Chideock and Bridport.

When asked about the experience of carrying the torch, Debbie commented:

“Wow, what a day! The rain poured down but I had a smile on my face for the whole run. For me it was the fourth best day of my life (after getting married and my children being born).

The bit that got to me the most was when I was told I was the only person in the world holding the Olympic Flame at that moment – I nearly cried it was so emotional.

There was a great camaraderie between the other runners on the day too and the Torch Protection Team were wonderful, very calming and reassuring.”

Dr. Dorothy Fox carried the torch as it came through Weymouth on Friday 13th before it spent the evening in Bournemouth.

Bournemouth Council had lined up a wide range of celebrations that 12,500 people managed to see on the beach.

Local children from Bournemouth Sings kicked off the programme with a specially written song Waves and Elbow’s One Day Like This.

Next up were Samsung’s DJ and dancing street crew, before Twist and Pulse and rapper Wretch 32 performed.

The atmosphere was electric as Charlie Rogers, 16, raised his torch to light the cauldron. The evening was topped off with a fantastic firework display that lit up the watching crowd.

We will keep you up to date with any more exciting news from the School of Tourism and the London 2012 Games this summer.

 

Rami Mhanna meets Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button as part of the Santander Scholarship Programme

Posted . Filed under News.

 

Back in October it was announced that Rami Mhanna was a successful applicant of the Santander Scholarship. Each successful applicant was awarded up to £5,000 to travel to a university in the Santander Overseas Network to build or develop relationships. 

As a PhD student in the School of Tourism Rami is interested in the planning requirements of major sporting events such as the London 2012, Sochi 2014 and the FIFA World cup in Brazil 2014. He therefore plans to travel to Universities in Russia, Brazil and London with his scholarship money.

As part of the Scholarship, Rami and other Santander Scholars got the opportunity to meet Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button at the Royal Opera House in London on July 4th over a lunch meeting.

Rami and the other Santander Scholars got the chance to network as well as listen to speeches from Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Lewis Hamilton told the group how when he was growing the type of opportunities that they had been given were from Santander were not available for him. Jenson Button continued by saying “We are here today because Santander chooses the best, and Santander chose you. This will help you really concentrate on what you want to achieve in the future”

Rami commented:  “My PhD focuses on exploring stakeholders’ perceptions of leveraging legacy outcomes of different sized mega sport events and therefore my research requires travelling to three different host destinations in order to collect the required data for my PhD. I believe the importance of my research and the potential contribution of my PhD project helped me in getting the Santander Travel Grant.

 I will use the travel grant to visit the 3 host destinations that host the forthcoming international sporting events: the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil 2014.

I will thank Santander for this grant as well The School of Tourism for the support they are offering in order to succeed my PhD.”

 We will keep you updated on any news regarding Rami’s exciting trips and any more news from the Santander Scholarship programme.

PhD Success for Maeve Marmion

Posted . Filed under News, Research, Student Experience.

Last week, after a successful defence of her thesis, Maeve Marmion was awarded her PhD subject to some minor amendments.

 Maeve’s PhD titled “Understanding Heritage: Multiple Meanings and Values”, aimed to explore the ways in which people understand and value heritage through a focus on the lay rather than the expert view.

Maeve conducted focus groups for her research into the lay perspective of heritage in order to compliment the academic and industry definitions of heritage that already exist.

Maeve intends to disseminate  her findings through conference papers and  journal articles, and she aims to develop her research into interpretations of heritage by targeting a different population from that used in her doctoral study.

She is also intending to publish a journal article on the practical use and pitfalls of focus groups research.

Lorraine Brown , Masters framework leader, who was the 3rd supervisor on Maeve’s PhD commented that “Maeve gave an excellent defence of her thesis, and was passionate and engaging throughout” Maeve was further praised for how well written her thesis was.

For anyone interested in undertaking a PhD at Bournemouth University School of Tourism please click here.

 

BU School of Tourism at the Olympics and Paralympic Games

Posted . Filed under Research, Student Experience.

 With less than a month to go until the Olympics get underway, Bournemouth University School of Tourism is heavily involved in the Games. From Gamesmakers, to Torchbearers, volunteers, venue managers and researchers, the School of Tourism is heavily involved in London 2012.

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:

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

  In addition to this the School has been asked to arrange and supply the volunteers for the ceremonies at the sailing academy affectionately known as ‘WAP Vollies’ and the internal interview process has been managed on behalf of LOCOG by Caroline Jackson and Virginia Bailey. Students involved include: Sophie Wrench, Rosemary Carter, Amy Unwin.

 Former School of Tourism student Emma Needham has got a job as a Hospitality Co-ordinator for the Corporate Hospitality side of the Olympics. Emma commented that “Being a former Events Management student having the opportunity to work on one of the largest international hallmark events is a once in a life time opportunity and I am so very excited to be a part of it.”

 With so many people involved in the Games this summer, it looks set to be an interesting summer for the School of Tourism.

Bournemouth University School of Tourism Graduates sought out by employers after taking the E-Marketing unit.

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Bournemouth University School of Tourism graduates who undertook the E-Marketing unit in their final year have been sought out for jobs by several online marketing agencies due to their skills gained from the unit.

Gemma Cooper who works for atom42, an online marketing agency, directly contacted Dr Philip Alford, the leader of the unit, as she recognised that the skills that students learned from the unit were attributes of their ideal candidate.

Gemma who is a recent Bournemouth University graduate herself commented that she thought the roles they had available at atom42 would be of “particular interest to anyone that had taken the unit. “

Ruth Cole, the manager of the Link Building Outreach team at iCrossing, which is a full service line digital agency, also contacted Dr. Philip Alford directly about job opportunities for recent graduates. Ruth commented that she believed taking the E-Marketing unit in her final year seriously contributed to her getting her current job.

Dr. Alford commented that “The Unit covers the digital marketing spectrum and provides the students with the knowledge and hands-on experience to enhance their employability.

 This is supported by a number of students who have completed the Unit and secured good quality jobs working for digital marketing agencies such as Gemma and Ruth. The great news is that they are eager for our next wave of graduates”

One element of the unit that is similar to life in a digital agency is the Google Online Marketing Challenge. This involves students working in groups with a small business and running a live Google Adwords campaign (with $250 which they receive from Google). The challenge aims to provide students with a mix of theoretical and practical insights into E-Marketing.

Former E-Marketing student Jessica Child commented that the Google Online Marketing Challenge was really beneficial because “it gave you actual experience within the industry, instead of just learning about it. I now feel confident that I could undertake my own Google campaign, which could be an  asset to any future employer.”

Jessica continued to comment on the unit as a whole saying “ I feel  E-Marketing has improved my employability as it has introduced me to a range of skills and understanding that will be vital in the near future as a communication tool for businesses”