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Tourism News—August 2020
Kia ora tātou colleagues, students, alumni, and friends,
In this edition we highlight a variety of updates:
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Staff excellence awards
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Destination Recovery: Tourism statistics in Tunisia
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Our successful webinar series
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How the tourism programme began
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Farwell to Luisa
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The Special Tourism Employability programme
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Supporting PhD students globally
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Chris Roberts on COVID-19
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Introducing Diana Kham
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Research article one of the most downloaded in journal's history
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Poroporoaki (Farewell) Johnny Edmonds
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Introducing Jake Downing
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A reluctant goodbye — Judy Chen
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Exploring sustainable development in Brazil
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TINZT scholarship winner Rochelle Tait on 'finding a place for yourself'
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Learning and teaching through COVID-19
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How COVID-19 will impact Brazil’s tourism sector
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Climate Change Think Tank
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French (Polynesian) connections
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A forthcoming keynote
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In the press
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Recent publications.
From the Tourism Management group: Christian, Doug, Karen, Ian, Ina, and Mondher.
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Staff recognised at Excellence Awards
Associate Professor Christian Schott and Dr Ina Reichenberger were both recognised at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's staff excellece awards which were held recently.
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Associate Professor Christian Schott—Sustainability Excellence Award
Associate Professor Christian Schott has been a passionate supporter of sustainability in his teaching, research, and service since he joined the University in 2002. He is a member of the Chapter steering group and is chair of the Wellington School of Business and Government steering committee for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), a global initiative aimed at promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in business schools. He also sat on the steering committee of the Resilience and Sustainability Distinctiveness Theme and the Sustainability committee. A teaching innovation created by Christian was awarded international business school recognition in 2018 and won the Bronze Award Oceania at the QS Reimagine Education Awards in December 2019. Christian has a keen research interest in sustainability, climate change, and sustainability
education.
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Early Career Teaching Award—Dr Ina Reichenberger
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At the core of Dr Ina Reichenberger’s teaching philosophy sits the concept of community. Her teaching practice aims to create a sense of belonging within the classroom as well as the programme and wider university, as students’ sense of belonging is critical for engagement, performance, retention, and wellbeing. She uses inclusive practices to support a feeling of membership and trust. These practices are enhanced by student-led autonomous learning and by personalised support initiatives at course, programme, and university level that help students to feel safe and part of the university’s whānau despite often challenging circumstances.
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Destination Recovery: Tourism statistics in Tunisia
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During his unexpected long stay in Tunisia due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Mondher Sahli was heavily involved with the Ministry of Tourism and senior officials from the Reserve Bank to set up a taskforce in charge of tourism data. The main purpose of this Taskforce is to advise on what necessary changes need to be implemented to achieve clarity and agreement from tourism industry and government stakeholders about the main priorities for tourism statistics, and provide the strategy for addressing these priorities over the period 2021-2023.
The first workshop of this taskforce took place at the Ministry of Tourism on the 19 June 2020. During this workshop, Mondher provided:
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a picture of what is required to be done in Tunisia to improve official statistics
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a coordinated plan for addressing current data issues
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a framework for determining the highest priority in terms of tourism data needs.
The taskforce is expected to submit a report to the Prime Minister by the end of October 2020
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Webinar series: Tourism in a post COVID-19 world
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During lockdown, the Tourism Management Group began hosting a series of webinars about the re-imagination of tourism with thought leaders from across the globe, including Professor Sherri Kimes (Cornell Hotel School), Professor Susanne Becken (Griffith University) and Pauline Sheldon (Hawaii University). The purpose of the webinars was to re-imagine New Zealand tourism and find a way forward. As Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is a civic university, we pride ourselves in engaging with communities and thus bridging theory and practice. COVID-19 has had a devasting impact on tourism, but there is a sense we are in this together and New Zealand, the industry, academia, and students all need to work together moving forward.
With nine webinars in the series. The series started off by examining how tourist behaviours would change. Speakers included Associate Professor Elisa Zvetfeld (Federation University), who spoke about the importance of VFR, and Associate Professor Heike Schanzel (AUT) who discussed the importance of family tourism. Whereas, Dr Ian Yeoman (Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington) examined the specific behavioral changes. The webinar on sustainable tourism brought together experts on climate change, sustainable tourism in New Zealand, and sustainable tourism systems. Webinars followed on food tourism, technology, and value-based pricing. With the support of Tourism New Zealand, VisitScotland and NYC & Co, thought leaders addressed destination recovery strategies. Building on the work of the European Tourism Futures Institute, Professor Albert Postma and Dr Stefan Hartman positioned a series of global scenarios about COVID-19 and tourism, with Dr Ian Yeoman taking a New Zealand perspective. The series concludes with webinars on responsible tourism and rethinking tourism. All of the webinars are available on the University website.
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How did tourism begin? The inaugural lecturer Dr Bob Garnham recalls….
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Victoria University of Wellington advertised for a professor and lecturer to establish a degree in mid-1995. The proposed Bachelor of Tourism and Services Management (BTSM) had been designed to operate in collaboration with the Central Institute of Technology (CIT) in the Hutt Valley to capitalise on their hospitality facilities and further cement the existing relationship with the Institute where some Commerce courses were already being taught; introducing the BTSM was perceived as a logical progression. For the full story of how tourism all began and then what happened next, see this piece.
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Farewell to Luisa
In March we said goodbye to Luisa Acheson who had been an administrator with us since 2007, much of that time associated with the Tourism Management programmes and Group.
“Luisa has made a great contribution to the Tourism Group, supporting both students and staff” said Professor of Tourism Management Karen Smith. “She has always been a great promoter of sustainability, long before it was fashionable, and it’s fitting that one of her last tasks was organising a staff volunteering project to Matiu/Somes Island”.
Kia ora rawa atu Luisa
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Your STEP – Your Special Tourism Employability Programme
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Together with the university’s Careers and Employment Team, Ina Reichenberger developed a series of online modules and webinars to support graduating tourism management students in navigating the COVID-19 induced changes in the tourism industry landscape. Gill England and Ewa Kusmierczyk designed a flexible programme to aid students in exploring their career choices within and beyond the tourism industry by examining their skills and career aspirations, building resilience and adaptability, and preparing for opportunities after graduation.
As part of this, students had a chance to connect with Cristine Angus (Angus & Associates), Jo Heaton (WellingtonNZ), and Matt Stenton (Go with Tourism) to connect with the tourism industry for up-to-date insights into current challenges and opportunities when entering the job market.
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Supporting PhD students globally
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As a member of the CAUTHE (Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education) executive committee, Ina Reichenberger, together with PhD representative Mahdis Madani from the University of Otago, has co-developed the CAUTHE webinar series ‘Virtual Workshop Wednesdays’ to support PhD students across the world with some of the challenges they are currently facing in light of COVID-19. Five webinars will be hosted throughout July, August and September, allowing PhD students to present their research to a wider audience in preparation for upcoming virtual conferences. Further, each webinar provides professional development support by renowned senior academics on topics around wellbeing and resilience, publishing, teaching and research.
Screenshot: Prof Marianna Sigala, University of South Australia, presenting on how to publish conceptual papers.
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Chris Roberts on COVID-19
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“Without doubt, COVID-19 has had a huge impact on tourism, but we have the ambition to make New Zealand the most sustainable tourism destination in the world,” said Chris Roberts, CEO of Tourism Industry Aotearoa to TOUR 102 students. Chris, gave a guest lecture about the impact of COVID-19 on tourism describing the pandemic as the “biggest shock ever faced by the industry” which “brought a $41 billion industry to a halt”. Chris then went onto talk about the government and industry response which is based upon a strategy of Response, Revival, Revitalisation. Talking to Bachelor of Commerce (Tourism Management) students, Chris noted that the industry will change but there is still a bright future as tourism is a resilient industry. New jobs will emerge that require new skills.
Photograph: Right to left. Chris Roberts and Course Rep Marianna Leiataua
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Introducing Diana Kham: BTM/MTM graduate
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I didn’t want to study tourism as my dream was to become a pilot, but my family didn’t like the idea so I picked a degree that was at least close to it—Tourism Management at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. After five years and two degrees, I can say happily and confidently that it has been the highlight of my life.
I still remember sitting in my first lecture, being terrified about many things such as not having sufficient English skills or that I won’t make any friends and all those typical first year thoughts. However, as I started to learn more about tourism management, I was amazed and fell in love with it instantly. My favourite days of the week were when I had tourism seminars, lectures, or tutorials. This passion I have acquired for tourism management led me to various opportunities such as tutoring, founding and running a tourism management social club, volunteering, various industry collaborations, using VR technology, taking part at tourism conferences, internships in Hungary and Cambodia, scholarships, and even field trips. Tourism is such a unique industry in a sense that all experiences count. Realising this early, enabled me to gain valuable work experiences, while completing my
studies.
Continuing my studies with a Master’s in Tourism Management was very difficult and challenging process, but at the same time was very eye-opening and rewarding. I was able to critically explore areas of tourism that interested me, while also developing my research skills, critical thinking, and academic writing, which gave courage in undertaking all sorts of research. Working together with the incredible tourism management group at the University and learning from their experiences was invaluable to me and part of the reason why I decided to do a Master’s degree.
Having just finished my Master’s, I am excited to take on what is ahead of me and wherever that might take me.
Photograph: As a thank you for contributing so much over the last five years, the tourism management team found an appropriate gift to say farewell.
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VR project related article one of most downloaded in journal's recent history
Associate Professor Christian Schott's paper, Virtual reality and situated experiential education: A conceptualization and exploratory trial, has been announced as one of the most downloaded in the history of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. The article conceptualises full immersion virtual reality for experiential education with reference to research on the award-winning virtual Fijian island project led by Christian. The second ‘VR for sustainability education’ project, based on Machu Picchu Pueblo (Peru), was developed based on the article’s concept. The Virtual Machu Picchu Pueblo project was funded by the LatAm CAPE and will be made freely available as a computer-based social sciences learning tool to
all NZ secondary schools in the next weeks.
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Tourism Management Advisory Group
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Poroporoaki (Farewell) Johnny Edmonds
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Earlier this year, the New Zealand tourism community farewelled Johnny Edmonds, a global leader in Māori and indigenous tourism development and rights, and a long-standing member of the Business School's Tourism Management Advisory Group.
Johnny held numerous leadership roles for indigenous non-profit organisations, including the World Indigenous Tourism Alliance and the NZ Māori Tourism Council, as well as serving on tourism industry bodies and in governmental roles.
Emeritus Professor Douglas Pearce recalls that when setting up the Tourism Management Advisory Group, he was looking for a broad representation of members who would provide sound, candid advice and guidance. “Johnny fulfilled this brief admirably. In his quiet and collegial way he not only provided valuable input from the perspective of Māori tourism but also contributed to the development of our programmes more generally through the insights he brought to the table."
Professor of Tourism Management Karen Smith reflects that “our staff and students have hugely benefited from Johnny’s generosity and leadership. He challenged us to embed indigenous knowledge into our tourism programmes and supported us to develop our capabilities and confidence to do this.”
Johnny was a strong global voice and tireless advocate for indigenous rights in tourism. Associate Professor Christian Schott recalls the impact of Johnny’s powerful keynote addresses to the TEFI Tourism Education Future Initiative Conferences, and acknowledges Johnny “has massively influenced my thinking and teaching about sustainable tourism and indigenous rights.”
Our thoughts are with Johnny’s whanau, including his daughter, our friend and colleague Leah Edmonds.
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Introducing Jake Downing
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Jake Downing, Head of Tourism at Weta Workshop, is our newest Tourism Management Advisory Group member.
In Jake's words:
My 20+ year career has always been fully focused within tourism. I’ve been incredibly lucky to work across just about every sector of the industry, from specialist tourism retail sales through to operations and general management, across all aspects of the distribution chain. My career began in London, working for Bridge the World where I developed and managed the successful Asia and Africa tailor-made department for seven years. My first Kiwi role was working for Tourism Auckland, where I managed the operations of their eight i-SITEs.
My governance experience began when I was appointed Director of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation, and General Manager of the Tourism Board. This role required significant strategic planning, trade engagement, lobbying, retail sales management and development of tourism infrastructure.
During this period, I completed a postgraduate degree in financial management, which held me in excellent stead in my next governance role as Director of i-SITE New Zealand.
I’ve been Head of Tourism at Weta Workshop for the past 6 years, in a role that encompasses all aspects of strategy and management: from sales and marketing, to operational delivery, through to HR. This coming summer season we’ll add an Auckland experience to the mix. This unique visitor attraction at Sky City is a new creative venture for Weta Workshop, complementing our three busy Wellington tour spaces.
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A reluctant goodbye — Judy Chen
Following Judy’s resignation as CEO of the Tourism Export Council New Zealand, she decided to relinquish per post as Chair of the Tourism Management Advisory Board. Judy has been a stalwart supporter of tourism management education at the university, being one of the first students to graduate with a Bachelor of Tourism and Services Management and Master of Tourism Management.
“Judy is a champion for the tourism industry, believes in an applied education, always said yes to guest lectures and the importance of thinking and creativity in our programmes,” says Dr Ian Yeoman, Head of the Tourism Management Group.
Associate Professor Christian Schott recalls Judy’s chairing skills.
“Judy was always good humoured while efficient at keeping people on track.”
Judy served as a member of the advisory board from 2009 and as chair from 2018 to 2020. We wish Judy the best of luck in her new adventures over the hill in the Wairarapa.
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Exploring sustainable development in Brazil
Tourism Managment student Rochelle Tait was lucky enough to visit Brazil earlier this year to learn about sustainable development in the region. Rochelle wrote about her experience on the University website.
Read article
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TINZT scholarship winner Rochelle Tait on 'finding a place for yourself'
Tourism Management student Rochelle Tait was one of two recipients of the TINZT Tourism Academic Scholarship awarded at the Tourism Summit Aotearoa in September 2019. Currently in her final year, Rochelle has learnt about an industry she has had a passion for since childhood.
Read more
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Learning and teaching through COVID-19
COVID-19 has meant students and staff have had very different teaching and learning experiences this year.
Professor of Tourism Management Karen Smith is also the Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) for the Wellington School of Business and Government and has seen the impact of the COVID situation across our programmes. “In Trimester 1 over 150 commerce courses rapidly pivoted to delivering learning online. Staff were setting up home office spaces and quickly learning how to deliver classes over Zoom. We reviewed all course assessments so they could be completed by students wherever they were.”
In the tourism programmes, many TOUR 101 students were only a month into their university life when lockdown was imposed. Lecturer Ina Reichenberger said “Initially I worried about how, especially our first-year, students would adapt to the change to online delivery, just having settled into their still new university routine. I was really impressed with how well students engaged throughout our online live lectures and tutorials, and how quickly they adjusted to a learning experience that required far more self-motivation and initiative.” However, Ina also acknowledges that an unforeseen move back home for many, the need to balance coursework with care for whānau, wellbeing, and social connections, has been incredibly challenging for many. “The resilience and determination of our students has been quite inspirational. Our dual delivery approach in Trimester 2 now combines the best of
both and allows students to learn and engage in a way that works best for them and their individual circumstances, and I’m looking forward to see how our learning and teaching environments will become more inclusive in the future.”
First-year BCom Tourism Management student Lara Brisbane had the additional challenges of returning to study after 20-years working in the tourism sector, and lockdown meant Lara’s family were also studying and working from home. Motivation and time management were difficult at times, but Lara reflected that “I actually enjoyed doing Zoom classes when they were small and we had to put on the video and sound. Everyone was more engaged when we could see and hear each other.” She also benefited from “being able to rewatch my lectures, it really helped the material to sink in.” Now in Trimester 2, she’s liking “the flexibility of being able to do the classes via Zoom if I am short on time or unable to make it into the class that day”.
Karen Smith commented, “Whilst it’s been challenging, overall, we saw comparable outcomes for students in Trimester 1 compared to previous years. This was achieved through significant hard work and commitment from academics, professional staff and tutors, and a great deal of resilience and engagement from students.” Karen continued, “It’s great to see many students back on campus in Trimester 2, but we are continuing to support students overseas and elsewhere through online delivery, and local students like Lara are also benefiting from increased flexibility in how they engage in their learning.”
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How COVID-19 will impact Brazil’s tourism sector
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In May, during a virtual conference, organised by the Brazilian Association of Tour Operators (Braztoa), on the scenarios for post COVID-19 global tourism, Dr Ian Yeoman presented to 750 delegates via Zoom and Facebook about global scenarios for tourism in a post COVID-19 world. Working with colleagues from the European Tourism Futures Institute, Ian outlined a series of futures based upon four films. Crazy Rich Asians is about getting back to normal. Contagion meant COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, no one has escaped. This Side of Paradise was based on a Star Trek film in which tourism was transformed with a responsible future. Finally, The Colony represented New Zealand, an island cut off from the rest of the
world. Each scenario described value systems, strategies, and the conflicts between the scenarios. For further details and the presentation, see this story.
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Climate Change Think Tank
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SUNx is a climate change think tank for the travel industry lead by Professor Geoffrey Lipman based in Malta. Associate Professor Ian Yeoman was asked to lead the debate about the future of tourism in order to set the scene of what was to come. Ian presented four scenarios about the future with different circumstances, impacts and policy solutions. The think tank brought together 35 experts from across the world to understand the issues, find a practical pathway and develop a research pathway. Experts included Professor Susanne Becken (Griffith University), Felix Dodds (Tellus Institute), Jafar Jafari (University of Wisconsin-Stout), Mondher Salhi (Victoria University of Wellington), Jens Thraenhart (Mekong Tourism
Coordinating Office), Leslie Vella (Malta Tourism Authority) Alex Smart (Amadeus), Robyn Nixon (Intrepid Foundation) and many more industry leaders.
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French (Polynesian) connections
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Doug Pearce spent two weeks in Tahiti in January as a visiting professor at the Université de la Polynésie Française (UPF) where he was hosted by Dr Sylvain Petit and colleagues at the Centre d’Études du Tourisme en Océanie-Pacifique (CETOP). Doug gave presentations on destinations and destination management to staff and students at CETOP and a public presentation on tourism in New Zealand. He also spoke on destination management best practice at an international seminar held by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). Scope exists to strengthen our linkages with CETOP and the UPF given our common regional context and mutual fields of interest.
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Forthcoming keynote
Dr Ian Yeoman has been invited to provide a keynote on the future of tourism hosted by Destination Mekong on 25 August. The line up of speakers includes Ha Van Sieuv (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism), Deniis Yang (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PR China), George Cao (Dragon Trail Interactive), Gloria Guevara (WTTC) and Mario Hardy (PATA). The webinar is free. More information is avaialble on the Destination Mekong website.
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Publications
Goh, S & Yeoman, I (2020) Intangible heritage, and future past of rural Vietnam: a hero’s journey and creative place-making of Yen Tu’s tourism. Journal of Tourism Futures, Vol 6, No 2. ppTOC https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-12-2019-0147
Phan, T. T. L., & Schott, C. (2019). Visitor responses to environmental interpretation in protected areas in Vietnam: a motivation-based segmentation analysis. Tourism Recreation Research, 44(4), 492-506. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2019.1630168
Schott, C, & Marshall, S. (2020). Full-Immersion Virtual Reality for Experiential Education: An Exploratory UX Analysis. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (in press).
Sevisari, U., & Reichenberger, I. (2020). Value Co-Creation in Couchsurfing – The Indonesian Host Perspective. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. Advanced online publication: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-09-2019-0156
Smith, K; Reichenberger, I; Sahli, M; Schott, C and Yeoman, I. (2020) Collective Practices in Problem-based Learning [online]. In: CAUTHE 2020: 20: 20 Vision: New Perspectives on the Diversity of Hospitality, Tourism and Events. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2020: 338-340.
Yeoman, I & McMahon-Beattie, (2020) Getting Over Overtourism! In Oskam, J (ed) The Overtourism Debate. Chapter 5. Emerald, Oxon (in press)
Yeoman, I & McMahon-Beattie, U. (2020) The Future Past of Tourism: A Conceptual Framework Perspective [online]. In: CAUTHE 2020: 20: 20 Vision: New Perspectives on the Diversity of Hospitality, Tourism and Events. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2020: 685.
Yeoman, I and McMahon-Beattie, U. (2020) Recurring Themes: How the Past is Tourism's Future [online]. In: CAUTHE 2020: 20: 20 Vision: New Perspectives on the Diversity of Hospitality, Tourism and Events. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University of Technology, 2020: 678
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