The Learning Destination: Developing productive relationships …€¦ · The Learning Destination: Developing productive relationships between higher education and destination management

The Learning Destination: Developing productive relationships between higher education and destination management

www.bournemouth.ac.uk

Dr Phil Long, Dr Philip Alford, Dr Debbie Sadd, and Lisa AshurstSchool of Tourism, Bournemouth University

Anthony Climpson, New Forest TourismGraham Richardson, Poole TourismMark Smith, Bournemouth Tourism

Relationships between universities and

destination management: observations

and opportunities

• Need for critical reflection on professional practice (in

both universities and destination management!)

• Some academic research is of direct relevance to

professional practice and development

www.bournemouth.ac.uk 2

• Some academic research is (or perhaps should be) of

interest to practitioners

• Academics are increasingly required to ‘engage’ with our sectors

• Funding opportunities exist…………

Bournemouth UniversityBournemouth UniversityBournemouth UniversityBournemouth University

School of TourismEvents, Hospitality, Leisure, Retail, Sport & Tourism

� Approx. 18000 students, 1600 international students from 130 countries

www.bournemouth.ac.uk 3www.bournemouth.ac.uk/business-services www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tourism

countries

� Six Schools

� England’s Best New University –2009; 2010 (The Guardian League Tables)

� Significant Period of Investment in Buildings and People

� Ambitious Research & Enterprise Agenda for 2012 and Beyond

School of TourismSchool of TourismSchool of TourismSchool of Tourism


� Budget 2012-13: c£16m (R & E income c£1.2m)


� Over 100 Staff (77 Academics, high % Professorial)

� 1500 Undergraduate Students; 200 Postgraduate Students

� 45 PhD Students

� Strong international profile – students, staff and partners

Indicators of quality Indicators of quality Indicators of quality Indicators of quality


• Rated “excellent” by the QAA

• Research of national and international excellence


• Research of national and international excellence (RAE / REF)

• Strong graduate employment rates

• High application rates

• UNWTO accreditation

• TMI recognition of BA (Hons) Tourism Management and MSc Destination Marketing and Management


Research Centres


Tourism Research Expertise includes:Tourism Research Expertise includes:Tourism Research Expertise includes:Tourism Research Expertise includes:


Tourism Development and Planning

Economic and Econometric Impact Modelling


Economic and Econometric Impact Modelling

Tourism Sector Management, Marketing and e-Tourism

Destination Management and Marketing

Sustainable Development and Tourism

Employment, Human Resources, and Education in tourism

Health, well-being and social tourism

Tourism Research Projects include:Tourism Research Projects include:Tourism Research Projects include:Tourism Research Projects include:


Accessibility and Tourism

Wildlife and Eco Tourism


Wildlife and Eco Tourism

‘Slow Travel’ and ‘well-being’

Tourism, Climate Change, Crises and Disaster Management

Generational Change and Patterns of Consumer Behaviour

Managing World Heritage Sites

Real Ale Tourism

Recent Staff Publications:Recent Staff Publications:Recent Staff Publications:Recent Staff Publications:



Journals Edited in the School include:Journals Edited in the School include:Journals Edited in the School include:Journals Edited in the School include:



School of Tourism, Bournemouth

University: Partners and networks

• Tourism Management Institute

• England Tourism Research and Intelligence Partnership

• International Festivals and Events Association

• WTO / UNESCO / UNEP


• WTO / UNESCO / UNEP

• ATLAS (Association for Tourism and Leisure Education)

• European Union of Tourism Officers

• …….

Funding relationships between destination management and higher education: The Bournemouth case

Acronyms explained:

• NTBA


• NTBA

• HEIF funded DDP (inc. DIF,DIG, FAME)

• ESRC / AHRC

• NCTA

The Impetus

• Regional Growth Fund application to fund the

development of the UK’s first National Tourism Business Academy (NTBA)


• Driven by private business

• Guided by academics

• Supported by destination management professionals

The NTBA concept

Aimed to:

• Offer ‘blended learning’ to support tourism businesses

• Pioneer the formation of a whole destination as a shared


• Pioneer the formation of a whole destination as a shared

learning resource

• Improve business performance for Bournemouth, Poole and the

New Forest tourism sector

• Be fully operational as a national tourism business resource

from 2013

Disappointment!

• Regional Growth Fund bid rejected …..

• BUT ….


• Funding secured from Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) for The Destination Development Programme (DDP)

The Destination Development Programme:Working Towards a National Tourism Business Academy

• By 2015 Bournemouth University will be the pre-eminent

institution for the study of tourist destinations in the UK and

overseas and the home of a “state of the art” knowledge


overseas and the home of a “state of the art” knowledge exchange to facilitate research, study, employer engagement,

professional development and networking for all destination

stakeholders.

Destination Development Programme

• Research Frameworks

• Destination Intelligence Framework (DIF)

• Framework for the Assessment of Major Events (FAME)

• Destination Innovations Group (DIG)


• Destination Innovations Group (DIG)

• Profile and Reputation

• Integrated Bidding

• New Venture Development

Destination Development Programme:

Objectives

• To develop an exemplary model of destination-wide interaction and engagement among private and public sector tourism organisations, academic institutions (staff and students), destination management organisations and related external networks to foster and enhance


organisations and related external networks to foster and enhance the growth prospects of tourist destinations in their entirety and become the custodian of a knowledge repository of best practice in destination marketing and management.

• To offer a programme of blended learning to support professional development across tourist destinations to include lectures, workshops, seminars, webinars, peer-to-peer networks etc.


Objectives

• To develop, and then market, robust and innovative research frameworks to underpin decision making in destinations and inform the development and testing of new products, events and markets.

• To enhance BU’s profile and reputation as the pre-eminent institution


• To enhance BU’s profile and reputation as the pre-eminent institution for the study of tourism in the UK and provide an environment in which student recruitment (undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and PhD), internships and placements, consultancy, volunteering, graduate employment and academic research can flourish and raise the external profile of the destination and all destination stakeholders.


Objectives

• To create a proactive culture of integrated bidding among destination stakeholders for external funding (e.g. EU, ESRC, AHRC) and growth opportunities.


• To collaborate with BU’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Engagement to facilitate new destination-related venture development.

Destination Development

Programme: Elements

• Physical and Virtual Destination Knowledge Exchange• Professional networking and mentoring

• External lectures and events

• Self-help facility and professional development

• Information repository


• Information repository

• Student hub for internships, placements, consultancy, volunteering and graduate

employment

• Blended Learning• MSc Destination Marketing & Management

• eMarketing Strategies, Destination Marketing & Management, Managing the

Visitor Experience

• ‘Bite-size’ learning

• Collaboration with VisitEngland, TMI and Tourism Society


Elements: Destination Intelligence

Framework (DIF)

• Development of research frameworks / models

in collaboration with the University Market

Research Group


• Collection and analysis of robust data to

support operational and strategic planning


Elements: Framework for the

Assessment of Major Events (FAME)

• Framework for assessing the viability of major events for

Bournemouth to build on the expertise of the Air Festival

• Potentially transferable

• Framework developed and informed with key


• Framework developed and informed with key

stakeholders and independent expert facilitation

• Need to ‘tie in’ with wider destination development programme


Elements: Destination Innovation

Group (DIG)

• “To identify and harness the most dynamic “Emerging Talent” from the 18,000 strong tourism workforce in


18,000 strong tourism workforce in

Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest”

Destination Innovation Group (DIG):

Objectives

To realise opportunities for:

• product and service innovation

• greater market differentiation


• greater market differentiation

• a sharper competitive edge

• increased market share and:

• to inform a research and development programme that

will draw on national and international examples to

underpin ideas

HEIF as catalyst for successful bidding

• ESRC Knowledge Exchange – Digital

Destinations: Exchanging Digital Technology

Knowledge in Local Tourism Economies


Knowledge in Local Tourism Economies

• Crown Estates/Coastal Communities –

National Coastal Tourism Academy

Some points arising from yesterday

• The destination brand = the sum of all the stories

• The DMO as the enabler in a destination

• Passionate communities


• Lifestage is key to influence buyer behaviour

• Big data – how to mine it?

• What to do next “Put 50% into CRM”

• Where in the funnel can you influence?

Digital Destinations

• Recruit 60 ‘visitor economy’ businesses – diverse

membership in terms of size, sector, skills and knowledge

- divided into six clusters

• Aim: to discuss, develop, test and share best practice in

online marketing focused on the development of an


online marketing focused on the development of an

effective and measurable online marketing strategy

• Empower businesses in the destination

• Overall focus on co-production and co-delivery of

knowledge

• End product - more effective individual business online

marketing = greater online presence for the destination as

a whole

Greater than the sum of the parts


What do the businesses get?

• An online marketing strategy developed, tested and

critiqued over a 12-month period

• Expert input via face to face seminars, online webinars

and access to materials via the project website


• A final year student is placed with the organisation and

works alongside them on their online marketing strategy

• An opportunity to benchmark against peer group

• Insights into leading edge measurement and tracking of

online marketing to get that all-elusive ROI data!

• Peer support

Poll

Question: How do you measure your ROI from social media?

a) New traffic to your website?

b) New sales leads generated?

c) The number of Likes / Fans / Views?

d) Increase in brand sentiment?

e) Collection of profiling data?

31

Results

Question: How do you measure your ROI from social media?

32

Why Digital Visitor

Digital Visitor specialise in the Travel,

Tourism and Leisure sector both for:

Social media technology

• Application for easy integration into

websites providing review and websites providing review and

social media capability

Social media marketing

• Relevant experience for social

media campaigns and channel

management in the industry

33

Reviews increasing conversions

•Potential customers expect

to see reviews

•60% of consumers say

they’re more likely to make a

purchase from a website

with ratings and reviews with ratings and reviews Jupiter Research and iPerceptions

•Why let customers leave

your website to find these

34

Driving organic traffic

Search engines love

reviews

Regularly added user

generated reviews, generated reviews,

including images and

videos, will help to drive

organic traffic

35

Increasing traffic from social media channels

Sharing content with social

media channels

•Company’s profile – Sharing

content to your own profiles

will drive traffic will drive traffic

•Customers – Use your

customers to tell other like

minded individuals by

sharing to their own profiles

36

Gathering content

How can you gather content

for your own website

• Ask customers to add

reviews

• Make it easy for them• Make it easy for them

• Show reviews and media

content against relevant

products and services

37

Measurement is key

‘Not everything that can be counted counts, and not

everything that counts can be counted”


Customer engagement value

LTV


CEV CRV

CIV

CKV

Crown Estates/Coastal Communities: National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA)

• “The NCTA is a ground-breaking knowledge transfer

initiative, designed to accelerate tourism growth in

destinations and businesses across Britain.”


• “Its aim is to coordinate an entire coastal tourism

destination as a centre of excellence that will provide a

unique combination of practical and academic support.”

Primary purposes of the NCTA

S

Shared vision


• To increase economic performance of tourism in

Bournemouth, then more widely

• To establish the NCTA as a viable centre of

excellence internationally.

•

NCTA Programme Elements

• Coastal Activity Park and programme • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLheNd5oVIw

• Developing resort wide ‘world class’ visitor experience programmes


experience programmes

• Coastal tourism product research and

development programme

• Informed by and informing national and

international research and best practice

NCTA: How is it funded?

• Two years funded support from the Coastal Communities

Fund, administered by DCLG, with support from

Bournemouth University and commitments from

Bournemouth Tourism Management Board and Borough

Council


Council

• Key aims of securing long-term sustainability and

longitudinal, funded research programmes and

• securing national and international profile and

participation

A destination manager’s perspective: Tony Climpson

• Benefits of delivering student lectures

• Value of student placements/secondments

• Students are the future – we’re the present (often the past )


(often the past )

• Learning never stops

• It’s a two way street

Relationships between universities and

destination management: Issues and

challenges

• What are your experiences and observations on working

relationships between destination managers, the wider

tourism sector and higher education?


Questions and Contacts:

www.bournemouth.ac.uk

Lisa AshurstSchool of Tourism, Bournemouth University

[email protected]

Documents

The Learning Destination: Developing productive relationships …€¦ · The Learning Destination: Developing productive relationships between higher education and destination management