News & Events
Are you Considering undertaking a PhD in Tourism, Hospitality or Leisure Studies?
30 January 2012: Staff in the Department of Tourism are actively seeking PhD students in a range of areas which closely match their research interests. 2012 Topics.
OUSA Supervisor of the Year 2011 - Dr Tara Duncan, Department of Tourism
Outstanding postgraduate supervisors were recognised o
n Friday evening at an event run jointly by the University of Otago and the Otago University Students’ Association.
Fourteen academic staff from across the University of Otago were shortlisted for the annual OUSA Supervisor of the Year Awards this year from a total of 101 nominations.
The overall winner of the 2011 OUSA Supervisor of the Year award is Dr Tara Duncan, from the Department of Tourism.
The annual awards recognise the contribution made by supervisors to the success of students researching and writing doctoral, Masters and postgraduate diploma theses and dissertations.
The Director of Graduate Research Services, Dr Charles Tustin, says that “Supervisors play a major role in assisting these students in many aspects of their work, and have a significant impact on both the overall experience of research students at the University and Otago’s research output.
In the case of doctoral candidates, students and supervisors work together for several years. Award winner Dr Duncan believes successful supervisors require several important skill sets to help see them through this time.
“It’s important to understand the student’s situation, viewpoint and their quandaries; have an interest in their subject and in them, both now and their futures; and communicate well, whether this be about how long feedback is going to take or about how the student-supervisor relationship is going.
She adds that it’s also important to “support them through the process, through times when the personal may interfere with the PhD, and respect their decisions about their research whilst also trying to guide them to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
New Taught Masters Programme
New 1 year interdisciplinary Masters programme focused on Tourism that mixes taught courses (over two semesters) with supervised individual research (over one semester) to be offered from 2012. Click here for further details.
Dr Carleigh Randall - Best Thesis for Scientific Theory
January 2011
Dr Carleigh Randall, a PhD graduate of the Department of Tourism, University of Otago has been awarded a ITB-Science Award for 2011 from the German Society for Tourism Science. Five theses are selected to receive awards and Dr Randall was awarded the Best Thesis for Scientific Theory. The theses are double-blind reviewed. Dr Randall's topic for her PhD was: The Wine Islands, British Columbia: An Exploration of Wine Tourism Network Relationships. Dr Randall was supervised by Dr Richard Mitchell.
New for 2011 - Diploma for Graduates in Sports Business
The Departments of Tourism, Management, Marketing and Physical Education have combined their talents in the areas of Sports Business to offer a Diploma for Graduates endorsed in Sports Business. The course will be limited to 30 enrolments each year.
Check out the Diploma for Graduates in Sports Business webpage.
Tourism PhD Student Awarded Skills Active Outdoor Recreation Research Scholarship
18 January 2010: Sandro Carnicelli Filho has been awarded a Skills Active Outdoor Recreation Research Scholarship that "supports and recognises an individual who has a proven commitment to outdoor recreation education and training".
The aim of his research is to understand the emotions involved in the white-water rafting guiding role as well as the importance of the management of emotions and possible impacts in the adventure industry in New Zealand. Besides that, the comprehension of this phenomenon can be the starting point to a broader discussion about the emotional preparation of adventure guides in New Zealand and a reflexive point to evaluate, elaborate and improve the emotional labor of adventure guides with extensive benefits to outdoor guiding and adventure tourism communities around the country.
Professor Keith Hollinshead's Advanced Graduate Research Open Workshop 19 March 2010
4 January 2010: Professor Keith Hollinshead from the University of Bedfordshire will be joining the Department of Tourism as a William Evans Fellow during March/April 2010. He will be hosted by Associate Professor Hazel Tucker during his visit.
Whilst in the Department he is delivering an Advanced Graduate Research Open Workshop. For further details please click on this link - Advanced Workshop.
Recreation Values and Natural Areas - CRR Research Symposium 2010
16 December 2009: The Centre for Recreation Research are hosting a Research Symposium on Recreation Values and Natural Areas. For further details please visit the CRR website for further details. Symposium Details
Centre for Recreation Staff Awarded further SPARC Grant
10 December 2009: Staff from the Centre for Recreation Research have been successful in gaining another SPARC grant. This builds on the two grants awarded in 2008 to Dr Anna Thompson and Dr Brent Lovelock. The grants received are highly competitive, nationally funded grants.
The goal of the new grant will be assessing the levels of commitment and 'enduring involvement' in a number of key outdoor recreational activities (mountaineering/ climbing, tramping, hunting and fishing), and assesses the importance of a range of personal, social and social and environmental influences upon commitment and enduring involvement.
For further information about the Centre for Recreation Research please visit their website at www.crr.otago.ac.nz.
Professor Alison Morrison visits Department
30 October 2009: During November 2009, Professor Alison Morrison from the University of Surrey delivered a programme of seminars, workshops and public lectures as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Tourism.
Centre for Air Transport Research Established
1 September 2009: Centre for Air Transport Research (Department of Tourism, School of Business) established as part of Associate Professor David Duval's FRST research programme. Further details can be found at the CATR website www.catr.otago.ac.nz.
West Coast Tourism Operators Under-Insured for Big Quake
22 August 2009: By Dan Hutchinson for NZPA
Few West Coast tourism operators are insured for loss of earnings, even though an overdue major earthquake on New Zealand's biggest fault line could devastate their business, a researcher has found.
The Alpine Fault runs 400km from Milford in the south to Springs Junction in the north. It last produced a sizeable earthquake (magnitude 7.8-8) in 1717 and it is known to have produced similar shakes every 100-300 years.
Caroline Orchiston, a PhD student in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago, has been researching for more than two years to find out how prepared West Coast tourism businesses are for a major earthquake.
A major earthquake would cause significant damage to roads, sewerage, water and other infrastructure, creating a nightmare business environment for up to two years.
Survey forms were sent to 540 tourism operators with a 50 percent return rate. Only 15 percent of operators carried loss of earnings insurance for one year or more.
"I asked them when they thought it would happen and most people put it outside their lifetime, more than 30 years away."
She said many operators were prepared for an earthquake but a lot were unaware of the full consequences of a large quake.
"In terms of business resilience, there is an under-insurance problem."
She said big faults produced big earthquakes and small communities that relied on tourism and each other for survival should be planning for it and talking about it with their neighbours, friends and families.
"The economics of tourism are crucial on the West Coast. People just need to put some thought into it. You can't just say it won't happen to me."
Tourism numbers are typically hit hard by major natural disasters for practical reasons including lack of infrastructure and the negative disaster images circulating the world's media outlets.
Good insurance and a good disaster plan would not only help tourism businesses recover but also identify new opportunities in the post-earthquake months.
"I don't want it to sound all doom and gloom. People will survive, there will be casualties and quite a lot of injuries but it is a case of picking yourself up."
She said the earthquake in Sichuan, China, had a devastating impact on the community there but the area was an example of a place that had actually gained tourism numbers with more than 1 million visitors during the last Chinese New Year celebrations.
GNS Science said after the 7.8 Dusky Sound quake in July that the stress on the southernmost (offshore) section of the Alpine Fault had increased. But a detailed study over many months was needed to get a better understanding of the probability of a southern Alpine Fault earthquake being caused by the Dusky Sound quake.
20th Anniversary Celebrations Publications featuring 20 years of Graduate and Staff Research.
21 August 2009: In 2009 the Department of Tourism celebrates its twentieth anniversary. As part of the celebrations the Department produced two publications - the first being the Department of Tourism Graduate Research Handbook (1989-2009) details the research that has been undertaken by our graduate students over the 20 years including abstracts from PhD, Masters and Dissertation students, and its companion volume, is the Department of Tourism Research Handbook (1989-2009) which focuses on the research achievements of the Department’s academic staff over these two busy but extremely fruitful decades of research.
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| 1989-2009 Graduate Research Handbook | 1989-2009 Staff Research Publications |
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Associate Professor David Duval awarded FRST Grant
5 August 2009: Associate Professor David Duval was awarded an $704,000 research grant over three years by the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology to investigate the supply, demand and regulatory variables impacting carrier capacity and operations to, from and within New Zealand. Further details can be found at the Centre for Air Transport Research www.catr.otago.ac.nz.
December Graduation 2008
December Graduation 2007
Photo of Tourism some of our graduates from 2007.
Gore Community Presentations, October 2007
Three groups from TOUR 302 (Destination Analysis) traveled to Gore to present the results of their year-long research to representatives from the Gore community.
Hospitality Minor - New School of Business Course
A NEW “Hospitality Minor” course was launched in 2007 in the University of Otago, Department of Tourism, part of the School of Business.
Article published in the Weekend Star 22 June 2007
Department of Tourism Podcast #1
January 2007 (mp3, 12MB)
TOUR 214 Wine Tourism Fieldtrip
Photos from the Summer School 2007 trip are now up.
ATLAS Asia-Pacific and NZTHRC Conferences 2006
You can view a selection of photos from the December conferences from this website.
Visitors in 2009
The Department hosts a number of distinguished visiting academics each year. The primary purpose of such visits is to advance sole and/or collaborative research interests although visiting researchers may also present guest lecture and/or research seminars while based at the Department of Tourism.