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Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management & International Institute of Tourism Studies Leadership Council

The Leadership Council is a two-year old advisory board, formed by The Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management (DTHM), together with The International Institute of Tourism Studies (IITS). The Leadership Council members, including leading industry and association executives, event managers, and government and policy experts, have made significant impacts on DTHM and IITS programs by providing advices and develop opportunities for the faculties and students.

This year the second annual Leadership Council Meeting was held on November 1st, 2007. Thirteen members, together with DTHM and IITS faculties, administrators and selected students attended the meeting.

GWU new President Steven Knapp made a welcome speech to the Leadership Council and highly praised its effort to strengthen GWU’s tourism program. GWSB Dean Susan Phillips also welcomed the attending members and gave an update of the school.

The Leadership Council members approved the minutes of the last meeting and acknowledged better ways to effectively follow up the issues identified, e.g. forming a subcommittee to take on one or two issues and stay in touch with faculty facilitation throughout the year.

DTHM Chair, Professor Larry Yu stated that the DTHM and IITS followed up on three issues from the last meeting: developed GW Tourism Alumni Network (GWTAN), development Blackboard website for the Leadership Council members and a pilot Accelerated MBA program in Sport Management approved by the School.

Associate Professor Lisa Delpy Neirotti introduced the pilot program of AMBA in Sport Management, a collaborative program with DC Nationals organization with a focus to reach out to the minority students.

IITS Director, Kristin Lamoureux, gave an update on the IITS for the next four years and highlighted the extensive work by the Institute through Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance (GSTA). She discussed the establishment of GWTAN and showed its website.

The student leaders of Tourism for Tomorrow also presented at the meeting.

The Leadership Council members discussed the major issues on Bran & Image, Curriculum & Research, and Outreach & Career. Recommendations and suggestions were made on enhancement of GWU tourism program, improvement of courses, research directions and strategies, and students’ internships and career development.

The Council is led by John Graff, former CEO and president of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. The members represent government tourism agency, industry associations, leading hotel chains, national athletic franchises, major convention center and event companies.

2007 Fall Colloquium: Southeast Asia: New Models for Modern Markets

On November 27, the student organization, GW Tourism for Tomorrow, and the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management hosted the 2007 Fall Colloquium. This year’s event featured a broad cross-discipline discussion of trends, marketing, tourism development, niche tourism, and hotel development and other topics of interest as related to tourism in the Southeast Asian region, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

All respective local embassies graciously donated materials to the event, which was followed by a reception.

Distinguished panelists included:

  • Cornelia Horner, CMP, Director of Meetings and Conferences for the American Land Title Association and President of the Potomac Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
  • John Riggin, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Partner Concepts, LLC
  • Marcia Selva, Founder and President of Global Spectrum Travel Company and Global Community Service Foundation (GCSF)
  • Larry Yu, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management

Stuart Levy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, moderated the panel discussion.

The Colloquium series was established nearly 30 years ago as a way to bring students, faculty, and members of the tourism and hospitality industry together to discuss current issues in the tourism and hospitality field. These Colloquia expose students to industry trends and challenges through the eyes of hospitality, sports, sustainable destination, and event and meeting management professionals. This is the second Colloquium that was entirely planned and managed by GW Tourism for Tomorrow.

Past topics have included space tourism, extra-terrestrial tourism, crisis management, green tourism, tourism forecast, sport and meeting futures, the top ten issues facing tourism development across the world, tourism development in Latin America, sport and event careers, the outlook for the hotel and hospitality sector, and balancing green practices with profitability in the tourism industry.

2007 Fall Colloquium Planning Committee included: Sara Burson, Amanda Charles, Ian Chyun, Helen Davisson, Keith Dokho, Erika Herfert, Maria Kovar, Kanae Tsutsumi, Kathryn Warnes.

2007 Fall Colloquium Volunteers included: David Brown, Carlamae Chavez, Natalie Gempesaw-Pangan, Bryan Grackin, Yoon Koh, Kristin Lamoureux, Zsofia Stiller.

Additional Events with Sustainable Destinations

The students in the Sustainable Destinations concentration have had quite a few international guest speakers this semester. From brown bag lunch speakers, in-class guest lecturers, virtual seminars and of course the 2007 Fall Colloquium, students have had funny, heated and rather interesting discussions about the tourism industry. All the way from Portugal, guest lecturer Dr. Nuno Fazenda spoke with students in September’s Brown Bag Lunch Series. He highlighted the efforts of Portugal’s tourism sector to promote wine tourism in the Northern Duoro region. After the educational, colorful and breath-taking presentation of Portugal’s tourism product, students enjoyed a glass of Port wine as a gift from Dr. Fazenda.

Traveling the farthest distance, was Dr. David Simmons of New Zealand. The professor of tourism spoke as a Brown Bag lecturer and in Dr. Hawkins’ Tourism Administration course. The content of Dr. Simmons’ lectures covered daunting statistics about the future of climate change and tourism as well as discussions of tourism efforts taking place in New Zealand to attract the “right kind” of tourist and involve community stakeholders. Both of Dr. Simmons’ presentations left MTA students with much to consider about the future of the industry.

Lastly, eager students interested in the summer 2008 International Consulting Practicum in Guatemala had the opportunity in late November to attend an information session. The event was co-sponsored by MTA and the MBA Graduate Consulting Club. The first portion of the session was a panel of GW MTA and MBA alum that are currently working as consultants. The discussion presented the varied aspects of the consulting field and answered many questions from GW students interested in the discipline. The latter portion began with a presentation from MTA’s David Brown on his experiences during last year’s practicum in Istanbul, Turkey. Afterwards, students heard from other alum and Dr. Donald Hawkins on how to apply for the experience and what to expect.

Upcoming Events

Spring Colloqium- hosted by the Tourism Alumni Network (TAN)
AMTA Case Competition
Workforce development for the Dominican Republic-Spring
PTC & PTT conference-Spring