Welcome to the team

The Communications and Marketing team will be strengthened by the arrival of Ms Jodie Powell. Ms Powell’s appointment as Media Officer is part of School of Tourism’s response to the recommendations arising from the School Review.

Ms Powell will write and distribute a weekly feature article the topic will be drawn from the engagement, discovery and learning activities undertaken by members of the School of Tourism staff and develop external media relations. Initially, Ms Powell will develop a strategic media plan for the School.

Ms Powell’s background is firmly in media, with more than eighteen years experience editing and writing in newspapers. During that time she has developed and maintained an extensive network of media contacts in print, radio and television.

Most recently, she has worked as a senior consultant with Three Plus, a communications consultancy. In this role she devised and delivered strategic media campaigns for a variety of sectors, including construction and health, as well as hospitality.

UNESCO commissioned study
 
 (from L to R): Mr Le Van Lanh, (Secretary General, Vietnam National Park and Protected Area Association); Prof Roy Ballantyne; Ms Bui Thi Thu Hien, International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Vietnam; Mr Pham Tuan Hung, Director, Bai Tu Long National Park; and Dr Brent Ritchie.

A scoping study undertaken by Professor Roy Ballantyne and Dr Brent Ritchie from the School of Tourism will underpin the development of a comprehensive management strategy for Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in northeastern Vietnam and is arguably the most popular destination in the country. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and islands.

UNESCO has commissioned the study in response to an increasing number of complaints from tourists about their experience at Ha Long Bay. The visitor experience is not being managed successfully with the major problems revolving around visitors being deceived by tour operators, pollution, crowding and duplication.

 

The initial scoping study also included Bai Tu Long, an adjacent national park to Ha Long Bay for comparative purposes. Bai Tu Long have developed some very interesting ecotourism experiences and a homestay program for tourists.

Prof Ballantyne and Dr Ritchie have conducted a site visit and will return to Ha Long Bay to continue their research this month.

Grandfather
Congratulations to Professor Roy Ballantyne on the birth of his first grandchild. Welcome to the world Laura Joy McKinnon, born the 9th July. Laura’s mother Julie is Professor Ballantyne’s eldest daughter and a Senior Lecturer at UQ in the School of Music.

Trio of teaching awards
Professor Yanling Huang from the School of Tourism Management, Guilin University of Technology (GUT) will be joining the School of Tourism as a visiting scholar for twelve months. Professor Huang has been the recipient of three outstanding teacher awards at GUT and has worked on a variety of upper level government funded projects. Her most recent research has been in the development of multimedia teaching software.

No paperwork, no body
If you are considering hiring a casual research assistant you will need to submit the paperwork required by UQ when you hire. The procedure for achieving this follows:
The casual fills out the CASUAL APPOINTMENT FORM Part A (available on School of Tourism Intranet). The supervisor must always fill out the CASUAL APPOINTMENT FORM Part B (available on School of Tourism Intranet). Other useful documents are the Casual Salary claim instructions for employees and the method of salary payment. Once the correct forms are completed please forward them to the Finance Officer, Judy McLean, for processing through to the HR System.

Examining Queensland
In a recent trip to Osaka, Japan Dr Timothy Lee from the School of Tourism met with researchers from The Center for Australian Studies (CAS), Otemon Gakuin University. Prof Shinsuke Minamide, Director of CSA, Faculty of International Liberal Arts will be accompanied by Prof Yoshiaki Nishikawa, Faculty of Psychology and Prof Hiroyuki Ariyoshi; Faculty of International Liberal Arts will be visiting the School of Tourism in August.

The three scholars from the centre will examine various aspects of Queensland’s tourism transport infrastructure, tourism policy and administration, green tourism in Queenslandand survey inbound Japanese school group tours.

Faculty research profile
Professor Donald Getz and Dr Timothy Lee will feature in the soon to be released Business, Economics and Law (BEL) Research Profile.

To mark the launch of the Research Profile, Professor Tim Brailsford, Executive Dean, Faculty of BEL has extended an invitation to all staff members to the Business, Economics, Tourism and Law 2009 Research Week cocktail function, to be held on Monday 21 September, 2009 from 5.30pm- 7.00pm.
Venue: Terrace room, Level 6, Sir Llew Edwards building (#14), St Lucia Campus
RSVP:  Monday 7 September, 2009
Ms Andrea Martin, research@bel.edu.au/research

Revived and well
The Tourism Student Association (TSA) (formerly the Tourism, Events, Hospitality and Leisure Students Association) has been reinvigorated thanks to the work of the new 2009 Executive Committee. In the recent O Week activities the TSA launched a membership drive that included representation at Market Day and power point presentations incorporated into the School of Tourism’s Familiarization Day. Over fifty new members have been recruited. For a list of upcoming TSA events please visit http://tourism.uq.edu.au/tehlsa

TSA committee members Ignatius and Hedvig sign up a new member on Market Day

Visiting Scholar: Professor Jun Gao
Head of the School of Tourism at Shanghai Normal University, Professor John Gao visited the School of Tourism this month. Head of School, Professor Roy Ballantyne will host a dinner to welcome Professor Gao on 11 August.

Tourism futures (advertisement)
Interactive forums and workshops will be featured in the upcoming Tourism Futures conference August 17-19.
Day 1 Best Practice Forums focus on the future and provide cutting edge best practice updates for the tourism industry.
Day 3 of the conference picks up on the challenges and opportunities presented over the previous two days, and in a series of Half Day Workshops, develops outcome focused resolutions for action by business and government.

Key speakers will direct and stimulate the themed workshops. Workshop topics include:

• Consumer Research and Market Winning Insights

• Tourism Online - Marketing and Distribution

• Destination Management - Policy and Development

• Business Events Tourism

• Sustainability and Climate Change

For further information please visit www.tourismfutures.com.au