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

April 10th, 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

ENTER2013 Awards for the BU eTourismLab

February 4th, 2013 by Barbara Neuhofer

Last week, after the success of ENTER2013 @ Innsbruck, Austria Professor Dimitrios Buhalis and PhD student Soultana Symeonidou were both awarded separate awards from the conference committee.

Dimitrios was awarded the “20 Years ENTER Paper Contribution” 1st Place and Soultana won the “Best PhD Proposal Award” 3rd Place.

Enter 2013 ran from Tuesday 22nd – Friday 25th and celebrated 20 years of continuing contribution and ground breaking interactions within the IFITT community.

The ENTER conference, organised by IFITT, offers a worldwide and unique forum for attendees from academia, industry, government, and other organizations to actively exchange, share, and challenge state-of-the-art research and industrial case studies on the application of information and communication technologies to travel and tourism.

Congratulations to both Dimitrios and Soultana! For more information on Enter please see here

Barbara Neuhofer is awarded 2nd Prize for Best PhD Proposal at ENTER2012

February 1st, 2012 by Barbara Neuhofer

(In the picture: Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, IFITT President; Barbara Neuhofer, Bournemouth University PhD Student; Dr. Ulrike Gretzel, Chair ENTER 2012 PhD Workshop)

Babara Neuhofer, PhD student at the Bournemouth University eTourism Lab won the 2nd Prize of the PhD Workshop Best Proposal Award at ENTER 2012, held in Helsingborg, Sweden on 24th to 27th January for her proposal entitled “Revisiting the Tourist Experience: An exploration of the essence of the technology-enabled enhanced tourist experience”.

The annual PhD Research Workshop at the ENTER conference was attended by doctoral students from all over the world who are undertaking research in information and communication technology in the tourism industry. The ENTER 2012 conference was run by the International Federation for Information Technology in Travel and Tourism (IFITT), the leading independent global community for the discussion, exchange and development of knowledge about the use and impact of ICT in the travel and tourism industry.

Barbara’s research, supervised by Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, Prof. Adele Ladkin and Dr. Scott Cohen, focuses on exploring how technologies can be used to enhance the tourist experience for the tourist throughout all stages, i.e. pre/during/post, of the travel process.

Abstract of the PhD Proposal:

The notion of consumers increasingly striving for experiences constitutes a prevalent concept in today’s experience economy. The significance of experiences in both tourism research and practice has been acknowledged by literature in the past. However, given the recent impact of technology on tourist experiences, there is evidence for a prevailing insufficient understanding of the experience in a technology-mediated context. Considering that the changing nature of the tourist experience needs to be understood in order to create and deliver competitive experiences in the future, a revision of the concept is indispensable. Based on this rationale, the doctoral research aims to explore how technologies can be used to enhance the tourist experience for the tourist throughout all stages, i.e. pre/during/post, of the travel process. Theoretical contribution in terms of developing a holistic framework to understand and measure the Technology Enhanced Tourist Experience by adopting a mixed methods approach will be provided.

For further information on Barbara’s research project.

View Barbara’s PhD Research Poster: ENTER 2012_Poster Presentation_Barbara Neuhofer.

For further information on ENTER2012 go to: http://www.ifitt.org/congresses/website/enter2012/Home_page.

Technology Enabled Tourism Experience Economy

November 7th, 2011 by Mike Martin

When: 09:00 – 12:00, Thursday, 18th April 2012
Where: Eyefortravel Trave Distribution Summit 2012, London
Registration: http://ifitteft-eorg.eventbrite.com/
Fees: Free for IFITT Members – £40 for non IFITT Members (charged at the entrance)

Join IFITT and benefit from cutting edge events

PLEASE NOTE that participation in the event will give you access to the exhibition area of the EyeForTravel London Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2012 but NOT to the conferences. Please contact Eye for Travel and purchase your access. Significant discount available for members of IFITT.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

IFITT is hosting a workshop at the EyeForTravel London Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2012 to discuss the “Technology Enabled Tourism Experience Economy”.

The experience economy has become an increasingly important concept in modern society as well as in business. Today, consumers increasingly strive for experiences gained by the consumption of products/services. Tourism as a traditionally service-dominated industry has always been on the forefront of the experience economy. For tourism businesses, designing, staging and delivering meaningful, unique and memorable consumer experiences has become an imperative.

At the same time, recent dynamic technological advancements have provided opportunities for adding value to already high-level quality tourism products and services. Businesses in the cruise, aviation, or hospitality sectors, as well as a number of destination management organisations, have successfully implemented information and communication technologies in order to enhance the experiences provided for their customers. For example, British Airways offer iPads as a means of inducing an immersive in-flight experience for their customers. Carnival Cruise Lines have developed a multimedia platform to directly engage with customers during the pre- and post-travel stage, and improved the on-travel experience through digital signage.

The role of technology in staging tourism experiences represents a cutting-edge concept in experiential tourism marketing. Participants in this Workshop will:

Understand the importance of technological solutions for customer experiences
Learn how recent technological developments can enhance tourism and hospitality products and services;
And find out from leading experts in the field about current best practices and future opportunities of technology-enhanced tourism experiences.

http://www.ifitt.org/home/view/ifitt-e4t
http://ifitteft-eorg.eventbrite.com/

ENTER2012

November 7th, 2011 by Mike Martin

eTourism Present and Future Services and Applications Helsingborg Sweden 24th to 27th of January 2012.

Organized by the International Federation for Information Technology and Travel & Tourism (IFITT), ENTER 2012 offers a worldwide and unique forum for attendees from academia, industry, government, and other organizations to actively exchange, share, and challenge state-of-the-art research and industrial case studies on the application of information and communication technologies to travel and tourism.

At ENTER 2012, the theme is on present and future services and applications, thereby considering interactions among information and communication technology use and development in both, a supplier and user context within travel and tourism. Issues to be covered at the conference include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

Advanced Distribution Systems
Electronic Marketing
Information Search and Retrieval
Technology Acceptance
Consumer Inspiration through ICTS
Eno-Gastronomic Tourism
Information Interfaces and Presentation
Travel Search and Meta-Search
Crisis and e-Tourism
ICT Adoption, Use, and Value Creation
Intelligent Systems
Web 2.0 and Web 3.0
Distribution Strategies
ICT-enabled Partnerships and Segmentation
Legal and Social Aspects
Website Design and Evaluation
E-Learning
ICT and Sustainability
Mobile Services
Context-Aware Systems
E-strategy and e-Business models
ICT for Regional Development
Recommender Systems

eTourism Present and Future Services and Applications Helsingborg Sweden 24th to 27th of January 2012

BU launches eTourism Lab

November 7th, 2011 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.