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Student researches the impact of social media on Tourism & Hospitality. |
Internationally renowned tourism experts from Bournemouth University (BU) will host a forum at this year’s World Travel Market to discuss the biggest question in the tourism industry.
The BU Tourism Futures Forum will engage leading practitioners from around the world in an interactive discussion about what comes next in the shifting sands of the travel industry.
Forum Chairman Professor Dimitrios Buhalis said: “Tourism managers around the world will require genuine innovation to thrive against a backdrop of geo-political change, economic pressures, new technology, exponential growth in new markets and rising costs of food, fuel and energy. These shifts call for a major rethinking of both strategic and tactical tourism management to engage with the current and future impacts of these global challenges and opportunities.”
The forum will provide strategic insight into the future dimensions of the tourism industry. It will examine major trends in tourism demand and supply and explore changes that will lead to restructuring in the international tourism industry.
Debate about the key strategic changes will be stimulated by two short research-based presentations with the Professor Buhalis encouraging all participants to contribute to the debate and discussion.
The forum has been organised by BU in partnership with the World Travel Market and TravelDailyNews. It takes place in the North Gallery Rooms (6&7) at the World Travel Market, ExCeL, London on Thursday 10th November 2011 between 14.00 and 16.00.
Book to participate in the forum here.
Follow the World Travel Market on Twitter @WTM_London.
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Student researches the impact of social media on Toursim & Hospitality. |
A PhD researcher undertaking a scholarship at Bournemouth University’s (BU) John Kent Institute in Tourism in 2010 is developing new insights to mobile technologies.
Zornitza Yovcheva, under the supervision of Prof Dimitrios Buhalis, is currently working on developing a framework for user-centred design of context-aware augmented reality smartphone applications for tourists.
Latest figures suggest the mobile devices will shortly take over from the PC as a portal to the Internet. The reduction in price and physical size of the micro-technology has given birth to novel applications, which can determine global position, filter through information pertinent to the consumer’s profile, and deliver it in her immediate field-of-view.
This is where Zornita’s research comes in. She is working on a framework which will deliver this augmented reality (AR) in an “attentive and adaptive” application depending on the geographic, demographic and psychographic profile of the user. “Once we understand the scope of the technology, it will vastly improve the smartphone user experience,” outlines Zornita.
“For the first time in history, we have the power to reinforce the impressions from a place through AR technology, increase the feeling of a more complete experience and boost the positive emotions towards a place to make a trip altogether exceptional. Key to the realization of this vision is an effective, user-driven synergy of context-awareness and augmented reality,” she continues.
You can find out more about Zornita’s work and meet her and fellow researchers from Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism at the World Travel Market at ExCeL, London, between 7-10 November, 2011.
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Student researches the impact of social media on Toursim & Hospitality. |
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.
“The advent of Social Media can have a real effect on the perception of consumer behaviour and industry response time,” explains Nicolas. “The nature of social networking means service providers have a greater idea of consumer’s wants and needs.”
Real-time interaction means that the tourism industry can react almost instantly to trends among customers and by monitoring their status become ever more proactive rather than reactive. In effect services can be redesigned and constantly updated according to reports generated by social media activity.
Nicolas says embracing this technology can only improve service:
“Adapting service offerings to what tourists want in near real-time helps hospitality and tourism firms to provide more relevant products and increase their responsiveness to the true wants and needs of their customers. Leveraging what we call The Service of Now is key to achieving service excellence in a highly competitive market.”
You can meet Nicolas and find out more about his work at BU’s School of Tourism stand at the World Travel Market, ExCeL, London between 7-10 November, 2011.
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Bournemouth University (BU) is organising its annual Tourism Futures Forum with the theme ?Vision 3030? at WTM event. |
To help celebrate 30 years of World Travel Market (WTM), Bournemouth University (BU) is organising its annual Tourism Futures Forum with the theme ‘Vision 3030’ at WTM event, ExCeL, London, on Thursday 12 November.
BU is pleased to announce that this event will be opened and addressed by the Secretary General of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Dr Taleb Rafai.
The Tourism Futures Forum brings together leading academics and professional tourism experts who will reflect on the past 30 years of tourism and provide an insight into the industry’s future.
BU’s International Centre for Tourism & Hospitality Research has organised the annual forum in partnership with World Travel Market and Travel Daily News to facilitate debate and discussion about key strategic changes and the successful response of the industry.
The Forum will examine major trends in tourism demand and supply and explore the strategic changes that lead to the international tourism industry restructuring. It will also identify new trends as well as opportunities and challenges.
Forum Director Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, based within BU’s School of Services Management, said: “The current volatile market demonstrates the key challenges and opportunities emerging for both tourism destinations and suppliers around the world.
“Tourism destinations and organisations need to learn from the history of tourism developments in the last 30 years and adapt to the realities, technologies and globalisation for the next 30 years. Clearly understanding the Economics of Tourism and ensuring the sustainability of resources will be two key challenges for the future.”
To stimulate discussion, the event will involve two cutting-edge research-based presentations delivered by BU’s Professor John Fletcher and Dr Jonathan Edwards.
The discussion will be directed by Dr Keith Wilkes Dean of BU’s School of Services Management.
Confirmed panellists include:
Ufi Ibrahim (World Travel & Tourism Council)
Philippe Rossiter CEO, Chief Executive - Institute of Hospitality
Martin Brackenbury is President of the International Federation of Tour Operators
George Drakopoulos SETE, Greece
Kevin May Editor Tnooz.com
Graham Cook Vice President Expedia EMEA
Steve Endacott (onholidaygroup.com)
All participants will be encouraged to contribute to the debate and discussion.
Staged annually in London, World Travel Market is a vibrant must attend four day business to business event presenting a diverse range of destinations and industry sectors to UK and International travel professionals.
The event is free of charge but entry to the World Travel Market should be arranged in advanced. Delegates are advised to arrive early as there is limited capacity.
When: Thursday 12November 2009, 2 -3:30pm
Where: Tourism Frontiers 3030@World Travel Market- ExCeL, London North Gallery Room 6.
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A major pan-European project designed to enhance online tourism services has been successfully completed by BU. |
Tourists are set to benefit from improved online services thanks to the successful completion of a European-wide project led by BU.
The International Centre for Tourism & Hospitality Research (ICTHR), based within BU’s School of Services Management, has successfully completed iSeT, a project co-funded by the European Commission to support the continent’s tourism industry by improving online services.
Led by renowned e-tourism expert Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, the
project involved the testing of an online tool designed to support Small
and Medium Hospitality Organisations (SMHO) by providing telecommunication
services identified as:
The tool also provides an easy to use management system for employees that permits the administration of the all the above activities, and a portal for hotel owners dedicated to clustering and networking activities of local tourism organisations.
Following tests in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain, insights and data from the project have been used to develop a Deployment Strategy and Business Plan to position the i-SeT tool-set in the European market.
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis explains: “Small hotels around the world are realising the power of the internet for their promotion and sales but also for the satisfaction of their clientele.
“This European project enabled us to do research with both small and medium tourism enterprises, tourism boards and other stakeholders and develop a powerful technological solution to support their operations, networking with other organisations and increase customer satisfaction.”
He added: “We look forward to take the results forward in other regions and to support small business around the world to take advantage of the internet revolution.”
iSeT is one of the eTEN projects run by the European Community Programme, designed to expand the availability and use of telecommunication networks (e-services) in the European Market.
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