Tag Archives: Bournemouth University

BU eTourismLab hosts IFITT Doctoral Summer School at Bournemouth University from 8-9 July 2013

by Barbara Neuhofer

IFITT Doctoral Summer School: Vision of eTourism

Bournemouth University, July, 8th-9th 2013

 


Hosted by the eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University, this first edition of the IFITT Summer Doctoral Summer School aims to bring together the future eTourism researchers for a two-day unconventional workshop on a variety of cutting edge eTourism topics.

The IFITT Doctoral Summer School provides all participants a unique platform for knowledge and idea exchange in the field of Travel and Tourism technologies and a great opportunity to network with early career researchers and speakers from across the globe. The Summer School will provide inspirational and practical insights on the current and future technological trends. Early-career researchers will familiarise with various research methodologies and will be introduced to the world of academic journal editors. Parallel sessions will help in sharing and discussing research ideas, and will provide participants with valuable and topic-specific feedback on their research.

Chairs: Alessandro Inversini and Barbara Neuhofer
Research Chairs: Carlos Lasmfus, Sofia Reino, Anastasia Mariussen
Host: Dimitrios Buhalis, BU eTourism Lab
Social Programme: Barbara Neuhofer and Nicolas Gregori

 

*** CALL FOR ABSTRACTS ***

In order to take part in the parallel sessions participants will be asked to submit a short abstract (500-800 words – See call for abstracts for details). Accepted abstracts will be assembled in an online publication “Letters from IFITT Doctoral School 2013”.

Call for abstracts: http://tinyurl.com/cdkld7y

Time Schedule

  • Submission closes: May 1st 2013
  • Acceptance: May 30th 2013
  • Registration: June 2013
  • Summer School: 8-9 July 2013

 

*** REGISTRATION ***

To register, please your abstract according to the deadlines indicated above. Upon successful acceptance we will send you a confirmation of registration.

http://ifitt-summerschool.eventbrite.co.uk/

Costs for registration:

  • 30 euros for IFITT members
  • 150 euros for non members (IFITT Student Membership 30 euros)

 

*** PROGRAMME***

Download the programme

 

Content, context, co-creation and other eTourism predictions for the next 20 years

by Barbara Neuhofer

This article by Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, Director eTourismLab appeared on Tnooz.com

Predicting technology is a thankless task, as it changes dramatically. It becomes more complex when trying to apply it to the tourism and travel industry; an industry that is extremely volatile, fragmented and dynamic.

Nevertheless at the eTourism Lab of Bournemouth University, the team is developing a range of Information Communication Technology (ICT) solutions that will engage the most cutting edge technology with the most innovative strategic management and marketing techniques in the tourism marketplace.

It is evident that the world is going to be totally interactive, using personalisation, context information and a variety of inter-connected devices to facilitate dynamic interaction. These are some of the predictions emerging through this research.

Social Transformation

Two major trends can be observed in the generation change. First, Generation X (Gen X, baby boomers born after 1950), which in 2010 had already reached 21% of the world’s population, becomes more active and enjoys travelling in their newly found leisure time. This generation is also known as ‘digital travellers’ making use of new technologies in all stages of the customer journey (mobile devices, tablets, desktop PCs etc.).

The other rising trend is ‘digital natives’ (20th century kids) growing up with technology and interacting with digital technology from early stages in all lifetime situations. Therefore, the increasing adoption of ICT by consumers will be a catalyst for changes in the tourism industry as well as for the development of sustainable strategies and lead to a competitive advantage within the market sector. This as a result, brings transparency, cocreation and interoperability in the marketplace.

Customer Co-Creation

Through extended value chains and co-creation between organisations and consumers as well as consumers with each other, the new tourism industry is evolving to one that is based on engagement and value added services, all amalgamated due to technology. Value in tourism is co-created by tourists themselves, as they engage in meaningful interactions and relationships not only with the tourism provider but also with each other. Technology will provide increasingly crucial tools that will support and facilitate tourists’ co-creation processes.

Tourism enhanced-experience with ICT

Creation of meaningful and memorable experiences constitutes a key concept in today’s tourism industry. Integrating emerging technologies in consumers’ everyday lives and travel activities will be critical in order to facilitate successful tourism experiences throughout all stages and touch points of travel. Research will deliver key knowledge of how to strategically use technology as a source of innovation, strategic differentiation and competitive advantage.

The tourism industry will benefit from creating high-touch technology-enhanced tourism experiences in the future by empowering customer co-creation, one-to-one engagement and personalisation.

Content & Context

Content will still be ‘king’ in the future as it is essential to convince potential tourists. However content presentation and amalgamation will change fundamentally. The power of pictures transmitting authentic experiences made in a tourism destination, hotel or any tourism attraction is what tourists are striving for.

Videos and increasingly interactive videos will also be of critical importance to demonstrate the experience and narrate the story. For tourism players, it will be more essential than ever to build up a strong online marketing strategy to (re-)position the brand on the web and at the same time meet the customer’s needs. Consumer generated context will be so much more powerful and convincing.

Therefore, a two-pronged strategy will be vital. On the one hand it will be needed to spread media rich data on different social media channels/platforms and on the other, to curate user-generated content on the tourism organisation platform and enrich it with unique content to make it more valuable and personalised.

New features such as private cloud computing, internet TV and face/pattern/image recognition will provide more exciting ways for interaction and visualisation.

Social Media, Location Based and Mobile (SoLoMo) Marketing

SoLoMo marketing is increasingly becoming a critical and pivotal tool for tourism marketing. It combines social media, location and context based marketing as well as mobile devices. Interactions are no longer bound by the constraints of stationary computers, as they are becoming digital real-time experiences at a physical location. SoLoMo represents a powerful opportunity in the field of social commerce, allowing marketers to serve better today’s multi-channel, multi-experience consumer.

Service of Now and Real Time

Enabled by social media and mobile internet devices, travellers are sharing their experiences, opinions and sentiments about products and brands during the consumption stage. Therefore, monitoring the social media sphere, and responding to or proactively engaging with the customer, becomes critical for competitiveness. This includes instant adaptation and personalization of services, immediate recovery of service failures and pro-active development of customer surprises and delights on the spot; all based on real-time social media input. This so-called ‘Service of Now’ concept will require employees across the company to drive social media engagement.

The industry will see a shift towards greater agility and flexibility of service operations, flattening of corporate hierarchies and increasing empowerment of front-line employees.

Augmented Reality and Gaming

Together with NOW, enhancing the environment with highly relevant, personalized and contextualized content is a fundamental to creating meaningful and unique destination experiences. Intelligent, location-based and context-aware Augmented Reality (AR) information systems are a key in realizing this vision. AR has the potential to augment a number of important activities, as well as different types of environments (hotels, parks, airports) and services (entertainment, education). Further research will deliver fundamental knowledge regarding the successful design, development and implementation of effective AR information services which disappear in the background but at the same time are constantly aware about the needs, motivations and attitudes of tourists.

In this context, mobile gaming will also play an important role providing the opportunity to immerse the tourist on-site throughout exciting storytelling and role-playing, challenges and social interaction with other players. AR in combination with gaming will open more opportunities for tourists and visitors: to engage with a destination and its history, architecture, heritage and traditions; to interact not only with the physical surroundings but also with other people (residents and visitors). By challenging the player throughout the destination visit, an AR gameplay can merge the virtual and physical worlds and enhance the tourist experience in a fun and enjoyable, but more importantly memorable and unique way.

Online reputation and E-Branding

The internet has transformed brand management in travel and tourism. To a large extent, it has shifted the brand creation that for so many years worked in favour of brand managers. However, with the interactive power of social media, more business to consumer, consumer to consumer engagements and dialogues are further encouraged.

Successful brand management in Web 2.0 is not conducted by brand managers alone, but instead co-created through on-going interactions among brand users so that establishing a common understanding of the brand concept. Stories about travel brands, products and services that are posting and sharing by travellers in social media create a central concern for tourism providers who try to manage their online reputation. Successful online reputation management in Web 2.0 and social media, require tourism providers to carefully curate the content available in their own platforms, for instance, official website in Facebook and Twitter, regularly monitoring content, and systematically monitoring all forms of social media such as third party online review websites.

It is evident that the world is moving real fast, with interconnectivity between systems, proximity marketing and context driving a range of these changes. However it is critical to remember that it is not about technology but about value generated, packaged and delivered to the right customer, at the right place, at the right time, and at the right price. Technology enables the interactivity, engagement and co-creation of this but it is fundamental to focus on the needs of the consumer, co-create the experience and ensure that all stakeholders work in harmony together. A small task considering the challenges, unpredictability and dynamic nature of both tourism and technology.

VS-Games 2013 – 5th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications hosted at Bournemouth University

by Barbara Neuhofer

VS-Games 2013, the fifth outing of the International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications will be hosted at Bournemouth University, UK between the 11th and the 13th of September 2013.

With the conference organized in previous years at locations such as Coventry (UK), Braga (Portugal), Athens (Greece) and Genoa (Italy), it will take place, for 2013, at the state of the art Kimmeridge House building of Bournemouth University, situated at the main Talbot campus of the institution.

The development and deployment of games with a purpose beyond entertainment and with considerable connotations with more serious aims is an exciting area with immense academic but also commercial potential. This potential presents both immediate opportunities but also numerous significant challenges to the interested parties involved, as a result of the relatively recent emergence and popularity of the medium. The VS Games 2013 conference aims to address this variety of relevant contemporary challenges that the increasingly cross-disciplinary communities involved in serious games are currently facing. This will be achieved by, amongst other ways, the comprehensive dissemination of successful case studies and development practices, the sharing of theories, conceptual frameworks and methodologies and, finally, the discussion of evaluation approaches and their resulting studies.

Call for Papers:

For VS Games 2013 we are therefore seeking contributions from researchers, developers from the industry, practitioners and decision-makers which aim to advance the state of the art in all of the technologies related to serious games. The following listed topics are particularly encouraged, though it should be mentioned that they are not the only ones of interest to VS Games 2013 and that the list below is not exhaustive by any means:
• Game design
• Virtual environments
• Game-based learning methodologies
• Mixed and augmented reality
• Computer graphics
• Gamification
• Case studies/user studies for serious games and virtual worlds
• Mobile gaming
• Interactive storytelling
• Application areas
• AI for serious games
• Educational/learning theories and their application
• Visualization
• Pervasive gaming
• Human-computer interaction
• User modeling
• Alternate reality
• Simulation
• Platforms and tools

 

The following are the dates of submission for the different tracks of the VS Games 2013 conference:

• Full Papers (8 pages): 25th March 2013
• Short Papers (4 pages): 25th March 2013
• Poster Papers (2 pages): 25th March 2013
• Call for Workshops: 25th March 2013

The best authors will be invited to write an extended version of their paper for inclusion in the IGI Global’s International Journal of Game-Based Learning. Further proceedings and other journal special issue details for the VS Games 2013 publications are being finalised and will be announced as soon as possible.

For further information please visit the conference website: http://www.vsgames2013.org/

New PhD Project at BUeTourismLab to start in Sept 2012: Augmented Reality Gaming: A New Paradigm for Tourist Experience?

by Barbara Neuhofer

 

Project Summary

Gaming allows us to experience reality and can prepare and engage individuals for a future event. Smart phones make gaming part of everyday life and its potential to enhance a tourists experience represents a new industry frontier which this project will pioneer.
Aim: to create a new industry paradigm by engaging tourists in a dynamic, personalized and contextualized experience, through Augmented Reality Gaming (ARG) delivered via smart phones. ARG, which leverages power from both augmented reality and gaming technology, will engage tourists in a fun, informative and memorable way through an entire trip (pre, during and post). This represents a new frontier for both the tourism and gaming industry; a frontier that this project will pioneer.
Rationale: the digital technology has changed the way we think, work, learn and travel. The tourism industry must adapt to this age. Augmented Reality (AR) offer significant benefits in entertainment, training and tourism. With the increasing performance of smart phones, such as iPhone, tourism companies and government agencies are developing AR applications for interpretation of specific attractions, delivery of guided city tours, etc. Though smart phones provide tourists the interpretation timely on site, the information is static lacking interaction and fun. While some games have been developed for tourists, they are not available onsite for tourists to play in a more contextualized way. To tackle those limitations we propose in this project ARG which combines the power of both AR and computer games, believing that it has huge potential for tourism industry. For example, tourists could play a ‘treasure hunt’ game before the trip to generate interests for a visit; after the trip, the game allows them to recall their experiences; while during the trip, an AR game which joins both the real and virtual world, gives tourists a real, personalized, fun and fantasy experience feeling that they are actually in the game themselves rather than being a separate, exterior entity. ARG combines the real and the virtual worlds in a way that no other type of technology can and will create a new, dynamic experience for tourists. According to World Travel Market Report (2011), the gamification is a major trend for the coming years, which will appeal to consumers across all age demographics.

Methodology

The aim of this project is to use ARG to make tourism experiences more informative, interactive, enjoyable and fun. The methodology includes a combination of social science research methods (qualitative and quantitative) and technical approach (system design). Details could be found in the diagram below. The project initiates from user feedback (social science), leads to system design (ICT), and then seeks more feedback (social science) to improve the design (ICT).
Outcomes:
We aim to publish 3-4 (3 or 4 star) academic journal articles both in the field of tourism and informatics technology. One conference or workshop will be organized in BU to publicize the project. Presentations will also be made at other conferences. This is an inter-disciplinary project which embraces a great fusion between social science and technology. Depending on the research background of the PhD candidate, the focus and contribution of this project may fall into both tourism and ICT.

Academic Impact

This is a new, cutting edge research project, the outcome of which will produce a number of high quality (3 or 4 star) journal articles both in the area of tourism management and ICT. By disseminating our findings from this project into conferences or workshops, we expect to open a new research and development direction to digital technology’s application in tourism among academia from the tourism, ICT, design and technology field.

Societal Impact

Being one of the world’s largest and most pervasive industries, the travel and tourism sector is as exposed as any
other to the forces of change that are being brought about rapid developments in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) arena. Destinations around the world, are investing more on how to use ICT in destination management and marketing. At present, AR represents one of the most promising ICT technologies that offer benefits in various areas such as entertainment, education (interpretation), and tourism.
This project will shape a new, dynamic holiday experience through wide spread digital technology, and have great impact on the society. The project will add to the theory and practice of human computer interaction and will provide valuable methodologies for developing gaming techniques in augmented reality environments creating opportunities for using this in other industries and contexts.

Training Opportunities

Since this is a multi-disciplinary project, we will provide the PhD candidate a comprehensive training opportunity across different levels.
At the university level: the Graduate School offers a serials of programs, designed to support and promote generic and employability skills training for postgraduate researchers, including Research Skills and Techniques; Research Environment; Research Management; Personal Effectiveness; Communication Skills; Networking and Team working; Career Management. These programs provide opportunities to gain an understanding of the broader research environment, develop a PhD student’s conceptual and practical understanding of research and to develop more generic transferable skills, such as communicating to various audiences, negotiation skills and presentation skills.
At the school level: School of Tourism currently runs a methodology training program, including a series of workshops for all PhD students within the school. This program focuses specifically on tourism related subjects. And in DEC, there are high-end Mac PCs in the lab where the PhD student will have an opportunity to familiarize and train himself the design and development of iPhone Apps, with the supervisor and other staff in DEC. These programs will help the candidate to gain an understanding of both social science research methods and technical approaches.

Besides, the candidate will have regular weekly meetings with a cross disciplinary supervisory team. He/she will also have chances to meet other PhD students in the School of Tourism and DEC, discussing and sharing ideas, experiences, challenges and difficulties in a friendly, supporting environment.

The supervisor team will encourage and guide the candidate to write articles and submit to conferences, where he/she could present his/her work, providing valuable experiences to prepare for future viva.

First supervisor

1. Feifei XU

Additional supervisors

2. Feng Tian
3. Dimitrios Buhalis

 

Recent publications by supervisors relevant to this project

1) Minghetti, V. and Buhalis, D., 2010. Digital divide in tourism. Journal of Travel Research, 49 (3), pp. 267-281. (In Press)
2) Buhalis, D. and Law, R., 2008. Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research. Tourism Management, 29 (4), pp. 609-623.
3) Buhalis, D., 2003, eTourism: information technology for strategic tourism management, Pearson (Financial Times/Prentice Hall), London
4) Morgan, M. and Xu, F., 2009. Student Travel Experiences: Memories and Dreams. Journal of Hospitality and Marketing Management, 18 (2&3), pp. 216-236.
5) Weliamto, W.A., Seah, H.S., Tian, F. and Li, L., 2005. Enhancement of Aligning Accuracy on Zooming Camera for Augmented Reality. In: ACE ’05: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, 15-17 June 2005, Valencia, Spain, pp. 233-237.

Informal Enquiries

To discuss this opportunity further please contact

Feifei Xu – email: fxu@bournemouth.ac.uk;

Feng Tian – email: ftian@bournemouth.ac.uk or

Dimitrios Buhalis – email: dbuhalis@:bournemouth.ac.uk

How to Apply

Information on how to apply can be found on: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/graduate_school/apply_phd_studentships.html

BU Tourism Futures Forum @ WTM2011

by Mike Martin

World Travel Market, ExCeL, London,
Thursday 10th November 2011 – 14.00 to 16.00 Room: North Gallery Rooms 6&7
Seminar Details
Chaired by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

<a href="http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tourismBournemouth University tourism experts organise again the BU Tourism Futures Forum @ WTM2011 and engage leading tourism practitioners from around the world on an interactive discussion to examine the future of tourism. The global challenges and opportunities for both tourism destinations and suppliers around the world require innovation in management and operations, calling for a major rethinking of both strategic and tactical Tourism Management. The Tourism Futures Forum will provide an insight into the future dimensions of the tourism industry. It examines major trends in tourism demand and supply and explores the strategic changes that lead to the international tourism industry restructuring. The Forum will be organised by
<a href="http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/icthr/Bournemouth University in partnership with the World Travel Market and the TravelDailyNews are organising this forum to facilitate debate about the key strategic changes and to engage in a discussion about the successful response of the industry. The event will involve two short research-based presentations to stimulate discussion. Chairman Prof Dimitrios Buhalis will encourage all participants to contribute to the debate and discussion.

Invited Presentations

  • Dr Marcio Favila, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Global Tourism Trends
  • Professor Adele Ladkin Human Resources trends and Tourism
  • Dr Richard Shipway Olympics, Sport Tourism and Legacy

Invited Panelists include

  • Marcio Favila, United Nations World Tourism Organisation
  • Dermot Blastland TUI UK
  • John Kent YouTravel & Aquis UK and Greece
  • Jens Thraenhart DragonTrail.com China
  • El Hamy El Zayat EMECO Egypt
  • Justin Reid VisitBritain UK
  • Daniela Wagner ewaterways UK
  • Dmitry Khrapov tutu.ru Russia
  • Ana Sustelo Just a Drop UK
  • Gerard Brown, UBM Aviation, Routes UK

BU launches eTourism Lab

by Mike Martin

Bournemouth University is launching the eTourism Lab (eTL) at the World Travel Market 2011.

This exciting new research Lab will explore cutting edge information and communication technologies, alongside e-based strategic management and marketing for the tourism and hospitality industries. The eTourism lab’s mission is to push back the barriers of knowledge on eTourism and through Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) empower policy making and strategic competitive advantage.

The Lab is led by Bournemouth University’s Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, who’s currently President of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT). Professor Buhalis said: “As Information Communication Technologies become globally pivotal both commercial and public organisations are increasingly depending on their ability to embrace, foster and develop information technology for achieving competitive advantage and implementing strategy.”

The eTourism Lab will reside within the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) in the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University. The School has a long tradition of generating research output in the information technology and information systems field and the formation of the Lab demonstrates the university’s commitment to this field.

Professor Buhalis continued: “Bournemouth University is in the cutting edge of eTourism research and is working closely with international organisations to create agile solutions and dynamic innovations. Technology will be critical for competitive advantage and our research will have great relevance and global impact”.

The eTourism Lab will offer global excellence in the field of eTourism in the widest possible sense which includes eTravel, eTransport, eHospitality and eCatering/Food. In addition it will research how social media is becoming critical for organisations to communicate effectively and compete globally.

The Lab will generate synergies with the newly established MSc in eTourism; it will engage with multiple stakeholders and will also enable the School to be recognised as one of the key research organisations in this field. Academic members include Dr Philip Alford, Dr Soo Jun, Dr Miguel Moital, Dr Christos Gatzidis and researchers include John Fotis, Nicolas Gregori, Barbara Neuhofer, Andrew Spencer, Ivana Rihova, Soultana Symeonidou, Georgina Sekadakis, Zornitza Yovcheva and Luca Smiroldo.

A number of projects on eTourism Marketing, Social Media and eConsumer Behaviour are currently underway. The eTL reflects increasing global interest from bodies such as the World Tourism Organisation, the World Travel and Tourism Council and the European Commission in the wide range of implications of ICTs. The eTL aims to provide research results, which will facilitate both policy making at the macro level as well as strategic tools for optimising competitiveness and maximising profitability at the micro level. The eTL will collaborate globally in developing this pioneering vision and strategy.