SUMMER EDITION 2007 - Faculty of Business and Law - Victoria ...

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SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, TOURISM & MARKETING What motivates tourists Currently completing her PhD, Marketing Lecturer Pandora Kay is investigating tourists’ perceptions about attending cultural attractions and events while on holiday in Melbourne. ‘I’m particularly interested in what cultural experiences they like, why they go, what benefits they expect from attending, and what benefits were gained from cultural experience attendance,’ explained Pandora. As with many other destinations, Melbourne is positioning itself as an event and cultural capital, and Pandora’s research will have implications for developing marketing strategies to attract tourists to such events and destinations. Pandora explained that despite the crosscultural nature of international tourism, cultural research of tourists’ cultural experience, attitudes and motivations is lacking. ‘Testing for cultural differences between some of Melbourne’s major tourist markets is a focus, as is testing for differences between Englishspeaking Western tourists and Asian tourists.’ The research will also test for differences between different sub-samples of English- speaking Western tourists from the international tourist markets of New Zealand, North America, United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as domestic tourists from Melbourne’s nearby states (SA, NSW and Qld). And within the Asian tourist market, the research looks at differences between Chinese-speaking tourists and Japanese-speaking tourists. ‘The research involved primary data collection at the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) over a seven week period from December 2005 to February 2006,’ explained Pandora. ‘A team of 12 bilingual data collection research assistants was recruited and trained by me, and assisted me with the data collection in shifts throughout the 29 market trading days during this period.’ The fact that the QVM management gave permission for the data collection to take place at the market itself was quite a coup because it is one of Melbourne’s top tourist attractions for international and domestic tourists. Although the research is yet to be finalised, preliminary findings indicate tourists have a liking for art and history-related cultural experiences, traditional performing arts, famous culture, and for social interaction at cultural experiences, as well as for cultural experiences that have been recommended by others. ‘The main motives for tourists going to cultural experiences are for the novelty, to learn about local culture, for relaxation, to have social consumption of refreshments, and shopping for souvenirs in the ancillary facilities,’ said Pandora. ‘Tourists’ expectations of cultural experiences are edutainment (a combination of education and entertainment), refreshments, relaxation, and for clean facilities and clear and helpful signs. The benefits gained came from tourists who were emotionally involved, relaxed mentally, escaped into another world, gained knowledge and got a feeling of accomplishment.’ Surprisingly, Pandora found that there were no statistically significant cross-cultural differences in these findings except for the different groups of English-speaking Western tourists and their motives for going to cultural experiences. Final analysis for the completed PhD is expected in early 2007. For more information email Pandora Kay at pandora.kay@ vu.edu.au Top right: Queen Victoria Market, a tourist mecca Above: Students collecting data from shoppers at QVM 14 VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, TOURISM & MARKETING boosting event management skills Each year Victoria plays host to hundreds of international and national sporting and business events. The events industry is growing and developing, and Victoria University’s leading position in event management education has made it the most successful and established provider of hospitality and tourism tertiary education in Australia. In fact, VU is the only higher education institution to have won (three times) the National Tourism Award for Excellence in Tourism Education and Training. The demand for event management professionals continues to increase. In conjunction with the Australia centre for Event Management, VU’s Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research now offers the Executive Certificate in Event Management. The Certificate is a four day course designed to provide a foundation of key skills and knowledge associated with the creation and delivery of events, from private functions such as weddings and parties, to large public events like festivals, fairs and sporting events. The course is designed to both enhance the professional skills and knowledge base of those already employed in the event industry, and to serve as a sound platform for people wanting to launch careers in the field of event management. The course content was developed after analysing the results of an extensive survey of event management professionals. Through a mix of lectures, class exercises and case studies, students develop an understanding of the theory and practice of creating and delivering various types of events. Teaching the course are two event management specialists Rob Harris and Johnny Allen. Rob is a Senior Lecturer and the Director, Australian Centre for Event Management, University of Technology, Sydney, and has been involved in event management training, education and curriculum development for over ten years. Johnny is the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Event Management and an Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism, University of Technology, Sydney. He has more than 30 years experience in the field of event management. For information about the course email barry.omahony@vu.edu.au helping those less fortunate Roatchana (Nui) Sungthong (MBus E-commerce & Mktg, 2006) has chosen to utilise her qualifications and personality in the service of the disadvantaged of the world. She has joined ActionAid International, a development agency formed to fight poverty worldwide working towards a career in fundraising for cause-related non-profit organisations. Roatchana is currently the personal assistant to the Asia Regional Director of ActionAid in Thailand. Roatchana said that her recent trip to India was inspiring. ‘My colleagues and I flew from Delhi to Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The place is infamous for the 2002 riots, where a large number of people of Muslim religion were slaughtered.’ The women in the picture with Roatchana (pictured fifth from the left) have all lost their loved ones...husbands, children, relatives, during the riots, and they are now living in constant fear of their lives. They are also struggling to stay alive in a region that is plagued by poverty. ‘You can see their plight in their eyes,’ said Roatchana sadly. VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 15
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