Tourism and Hospitality

Rallye Sunseeker's Magazine front page

School of Tourism research has made the front page of Rallye Sunseeker’s flagship magazine.

In 2009 BU’s Motor Sport Research Group carried out a study focussing on the economic impact of the British Rally Championship (as pictured above) which takes place in Bournemouth and Poole.

The academic research into round one of the British Rally Championship was designed to look at the economic impact of the event. The findings featured in the magazine and on the website included that over 60% of the event spectators were from the A, B, C1 category and over £700,000 of revenue was put into the economy as a result of the championships.

At the time of the research, Rick Smith, Rallye Sunseeker Event Director commented “We have always been certain in our own minds of the economic value of the event to the region, to have that quantified by this robust research by Bournemouth University is excellent news.”

The full Rallye Sunseeker website can be viewed here.

The Sport Tourism Opportunities for Research, Mobility and International Networking Group (STORMING) Initiative awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ERSC) to Dr. Richard Shipway offered seventeen travel and conference bursaries for UK-based early career researchers to each attend one of three international networking events. This grant scheme formed part of the ESRC’s ‘International Training and Networking Opportunities Programme’. The project utilised the bursaries to both increase international mobility and provide networking opportunities for emerging early career researchers with a commitment to supporting and further developing sport tourism research. Bursaries were awarded across eleven higher education institutions. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games also acted as a catalyst for this project, highlighting the impacts of sport events.

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There are new and exciting developments within the School of Tourism with ground breaking research identifying the fusion between recreation, leisure and wellbeing. The rationale for co-locating a tourism and public health strategy is based on the recognition that creating a community culture where a tourist destination is seen to enhance and promote physical and mental health for both locals and tourists is desirable. A community that supports health creation can be a re-branding opportunity within a destination management approach, dovetailing health and wellbeing alongside a marketing and economic positioning. The concept of wellness tourism is emerging and is an area where strategic priority is being given in many European destinations. It is estimated that the market is currently worth $106.0 globally¹ with predictions of major growth in the coming 5-10 years².

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The eTourism Lab, ICTHR , in the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University is supporting Just a Drop– a water charity to spread its word through Social Media and the Internet.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and Georgina Sekadakis a Masters student at Bournemouth University work closely with Fiona Jeffery Chairman of World Travel Market & Just a Drop and Ana Sustelo of Just a Drop to demonstrate how charities can use Social Media to benefit their great causes. Just a Drop is a registered water charity raising money to build wells, install boreholes and hand pumps as well as carry out sanitation and health education programmes in some of the poorest parts of the developing world. The mission they are trying to accomplish is to reduce child mortality. Currently a child dies every 20 seconds as a result of water-borne diseases and this must stop. Their main donors are from the Travel and Tourism industry however they are now trying to attract donors from all industries and individuals.

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Although a major contributor to life at BU, the study of Tourism is often wrongly maligned as being a niche subject on the periphery of more established areas of study such as Business & Management and Geography. Well, in the UK alone over 100 institutions offer HE courses at undergraduate level including “top tier” universities such as Exeter, Surrey, Strathclyde and Stirling with many more competing for students and staff across Europe and beyond with major concentrations of activity in North America, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia and New Zealand where tourism is not only a significant area of academic interest but also of valuable income, foreign exchange earnings and employment.

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Barry Light training

BU’s Academy of Performance Coaching, based in the School of Tourism, has been providing specialist performance support to a local runner- Barry Light, who plans to run 60 marathons in 60 weeks at the age of 60. Barry’s challenge is due to start December this year and will raise money for Mosaic, Wessex Autistic Society, Dorset and Somerset air ambulence, Team PB, and WaterAid.

The academy have been working with Barry in a number of different ways to help assist him with this challenge, and have already provided biomechanical running analysis and psychological support.The team at the Centre of Event and Sport Research are also working with Barry on various research projects in association with the challenge.

To find out more about Barry’s challenge please visit 60 in 60 at 60 website

As part of Bournemouth University’s (BU) renowned John Kent Institute in Tourism, PhD student Nicolas Gregori, under the supervision of Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, is investigating the impact of real-time enabled social media and technology on the delivery and design of services in tourism and hospitality.

See the School of Tourism’s news pages for more information.

Bournemouth University (BU) student Georgina Sekadakis is working closely with a water charity in an effort to find the best way of using social media to benefit the cause.

See the School of Tourism’s news pages for more information.

It may be a slump in the European economic markets, a natural disaster in the Far East, political disharmony in Israel, Facebook in China or an e-coli outbreak in France. In the past year all of the above have hit the world news headlines and the ripple effect has inevitably changed Tourism in the affected areas.

Professor Alan Fyall, Deputy Dean of Research & Enterprise at the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University has been monitoring the global economic and political situation. In a speech being delivered at this year’s Resort Development Conference (RDO2) conference in Marbella, Spain at the end of September, he aims to examine the impact these events have had and how they may change the future direction and management of tourism.

See BU’s School of Tourism news pages for more information.