Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference - Report
Building on the success of the inaugural tourism and hospitality research conference hosted by the University of Ulster in June 2005, the WIT Department of Languages, Tourism and Hospitality was pleased to host the 2nd Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference in Waterford Institute of Technology on the 13th and 14th June 2006. The theme of this year's conference was "Addressing the Challenges". The event proved an invaluable opportunity to present research on the current and future challenges facing the Irish tourism and hospitality industry.
The two-day conference was opened by Institute chairman Mr. Redmond O'Donoghue who outlined the major challenges faced by Irish tourism included "the emergence of new and exciting destinations; achieving more balanced regional spread; global fear of terrorism; cost inflation; a physical infrastructure in 'catch-up mode' and the challenge of blending new immigrant workers in front-of-house roles with Irish welcoming traditions that are themselves under question". On the positive side of the balance sheet, Mr. O'Donoghue spoke of the tremendous opportunities presented by business conferencing; airline deregulation; online sales and marketing; branding and positioning work already done for Ireland; tourism infrastructure in regions and nationally and exposure from 'marquee events' such as Tall Ships' Races 2005, Special Olympics World Games 2003 and this year's Ryder Cup.
Mr. John Brennan, Park Hotel Kenmare spoke of the "huge changes" seen in tourism since the luxury hotel opened as one of only a handful of five-star properties in Ireland in 1980. Typical overseas visitors to Ireland in 1980 were, Mr. Brennan said, "55+, Irish-American, Roman Catholic, war veterans wearing Aran sweaters, green caps and blue rinses", while Fáilte Ireland's Director of Enterprise & Skills Development, Mr. Aidan Pender, told delegates at the Waterford conference of tourism's "huge potential for helping drive more balanced regional development in line with the National Spatial Strategy" but stressed the need for improved wages and conditions to make the industry more attractive to entrants. This, he said, requires an increase in the value-added by individual tourism and hospitality operators so that they can sustain higher remuneration.
For his part, Mr. Paul O'Toole, Chief Executive, Tourism Ireland said it was critically important for tourism to be central to the Government’s thinking in shaping the National Development Plan for the period to 2013. While recognizing that tourism may not be as 'sexy' as some newer global industries, Mr. O’Toole said it can too often be seen as "something that will happen anyway" with growth taken for granted.
Mr. David McCoy who manages the Waterford Crystal Visitor Centre, one of Ireland's most popular paid-for visitor attractions, said authenticity was vital while attractions must also have a heritage component and be informative, interactive, entertaining and value-for-money. Mr. Gary Breen from South East Tourism spoke about a strong performance in the domestic/home holiday market had helped the region perform well in recent years, though he acknowledged that some sectors lag behind while there’s also a need for a better urban/rural spread.
A total of 35 academic papers were presented at the conference. The Best Paper Award was won by Mr. Seán Duffy (2005/2006 Fáilte Ireland Research Fellow and Tourism College Killybegs) "An Analysis of the Barriers to Information and Communication Technology Adoption Amongst SMTEs". The Best Poster Award was won by Ms. Alice Beteille and Ms. Estelle Michard (Sligo IT) "Trends in Tourist Behavior" and Ms. Marie Burke (Athlone IT) "Event and Festival Management".
Dundalk Institute of Technology will be hosting the 2007 Conference on the 12th and 13th June. The conference theme 'Working Together' allows a wide range of academic and practitioner issues and research to be addressed. Opportunities for paper presentations will be welcome from academic and industry colleagues who may be working on or have a body of research to draw on for presentation at such a forum. E-mail: thriconference@dkit.ie
Ms. Noëlle O’Connor - 2006 Conference Chair
Mrs. Margaret Fagan - 2006 Conference Administrator
Acknowledgement
The Department of Languages, Tourism and Hospitality at WIT hosted the 2nd Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research Conference in Waterford Institute of Technology on the 13th and 14th June 2006. The theme of this year's conference was addressing the challenges.
The Conference Committee would like to thank everyone who supported, attended and helped with the organizing of the 2nd Annual Conference of Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland. It was a great success.
View photos from the Conference
-- Conference Chair: Noëlle O'Connor
More information
Themes
Possible conference themes include but are not limited to:
- Developing the Irish Tourism Product
- The Identity Crisis of Irish Tourism
- Tourism and Hospitality Competitiveness
- Best Practice Human Resource Development
- Cultural Diversity
- Tourism and Hospitality Education
- Sustainable Tourism Development
- Tourism & Regional Development
- Tourism SMEs
- Tourism Entrepreneurship
- Tourism Impacts
- Tourism Marketing
- Tourism & Consumer Behaviour
- Tourism, Popular Culture & the Media
- Destination Management
- Heritage & Cultural Tourism
- Tourism & Security
- Tourism & Transport
- Tourism & Politics
- EU Enlargement
- Human Resource Management
- Hotel Management
- ICT in the Tourism & Hospitality Industries
- Operations Management
- Quality Management
- Event & Festival Management
- Food Safety Management
- Gastronomy & Wine Tourism
Important Dates
| 27th February 2006 (please note date change) |
Deadline for abstract submission |
| 1st March 2006 | Review of abstracts acceptance letters sent our to authors |
| 12th May 2006 (please note date change) |
Deadline for full paper submission and registration |
| 13th - 14th June 2006 | Conference |
