BGTR News
...
|
|
|
CELTS was launched in July 2006 - CELTS for general news of Tourism in UWE, Bristol.
For new of Walled Towns Research follow this link
August 2004
BGTR Members Meeting took place on 22nd September,
Agenda included:
1) Tourism Research Strategy
2) Tourism Seminar Series 2004-5
3) Update on Tourism Courses
4) Recent Publications of Members
5) Recent activities of Members
Seminar Day April 2004.
It was with great pleasure that we welcomed Prof David Botterill from University Wales Institute, Cardiff and welcomed back Brian Garrod now at University of Aberystwyth, to lead seminars on Tourism Research Epistemology and Marine Ecotourism respectively.
Stimulating presentations and informed discussion marked the occasion.
September 2003
Congratulations to Jeff Hurran on his appointment to FBE for this current
year - Jeff will continue to work on BBS modules as well.
During August, Bristol City Council and Somerset County Council commissioned
David Bruce and Marie-Annick Gournet to work on an Interregiiib application
with them.
A Seminar programme with outside speakers is being planned for the
coming year - watch this space for further news.
The first internal meeting of BGTR will take place on 24th September at 2.00pm.
The Walled Towns Friendship Circle Research pages have been revised (see link)
July 2003
Congratulations to Dr Julie Wilson on winning Catalan Government fellowship - see details.
Welcome to Chryso Panayidou of Nicosia,
Cyprus, newly registered as a part-time PhD student with UWE, Bristol..
Walled Towns Research pages edited by David Bruce are now linked from the walled towns website :please
follow links to 'research' or go direct.
April 2003
Farewell to Dr Brian Garrod, a longstanding member
of BGTR, who takes up a new job in the Institue of Rural Studies,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth, later this month. Brian's new email
address is bgg@aber.ac.uk.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
December 2002
Congratulations to Julie Wilson who has
been awarded a Visiting Fellowship at the University of
Barcelona (Grup de Recerca en Economia,
Gestió i Polítiques Culturals) for the duration of
2003. She will also be working with the Department of Geography,
Universitat
Rovira i Virgili (the Public University
of Tarragona, Catalonia). While on the fellowship she will
be writing up RGS research on the social construction of backpacker
travel, and doing further research on the impact of cultural events
on city image.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
October 2002
Welcome back to Julie Wilson, who returns
from international fieldwork into backpacker culture. Julie's research
has been funded by the Royal Geographical Society's HSBC Holdings
Small Grant Scheme, the Royal Society's Dudley Stamp Memorial Trust
and a grant from the Faculty of the Built Environment.
More ...
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 2002
BGTR welcomes to Tim Gale, who joins UWE
from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC). Tim is Award
Leader for the MA/PG Diploma/PG Certificate in Tourism and Sustainability
at UWE, Bristol (an initiative of the BGTR). In his career
to date he has delivered modules on the Fundamentals and Geography
of Tourism, Leisure and Tourism Policy and Planning, Sustainable
Tourism in the Developing World and Research Methods for the Social
Sciences. His research interests have given rise to several conference
papers and encompass the decline of the British seaside resort,
late 20th Century cultural change and the restructuring of
tourist practices, the consumption of tourism amongst the elderly
and social-scientific approaches to tourism research.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 2002
Congratulations
to Maria Casado Diaz, who has recently taken up a lectureship
in tourism in the Faculty of the Built Environment. Maria's Ph.D.
was in International Retirement Migration in Spain, project funded
by the Spanish State Department for Tourism of the Ministry of
Economy and Finance, and the Economic and Social Committee
(European Social Fund) of the European Community. She is a member
of the Research Network on Older People Abroad in Europe (OPAIR)
and of the International Economics Institute of the University of
Alicante. Research interests include international retirement
migration in Europe, residential tourism, senior housing market and
the socio-demographic impacts of tourism.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 2002
Spanish translations of the META- Project reports
Two reports from the Marine Ecotourism
in the Atlantic Area (META-) Project are now available in Spanish
translation. The English titles of the reports are "Planning for
Marine Ecotourism in the EU Atlantic Area: Good Practice
Guidance" and "Genuinely Sustainable Marine Ecotourism in the EU
Atlantic Area: A Blueprint for Responsbile Marketing". All can be
downloaded, free of charge, from www.tourism-research.org/METAhome.html.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
July 2002
Farewell to BGTR member Julia Hasse, who leaves
for new challenges at the Fachhochschule Eberswalde, near Berlin in
Germany, at the end of this month.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
June 2002
Congratulations to BGTR member Julie Wilson for the
successful defence of her doctoral thesis "Tourism Place Imagery and
Tourist Behaviour". Julie has been working on her Ph.D. alongside
her major involvement on the META- project, as well
as a researcher in the Centre for Environment and Planning.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
May 2002
Congratulations to Maria Casado Diaz on
her recent appointment as Lecturer in Tourism in the School of Geography
and Environment Management. This follows Maria's recent Ph.D.
success, cum laude, with the University of Alicante,
on the subject of international retirement migration to Spain..
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
December 2001
The META- Project (Marine Ecotourism for the Atlantic
Area, funded by the EU Regional Fund and UK DTLR) has recently published
a document outlining good practice guidance in planning, managing
and developing genuinely sustainable marine ecotourism. META- is a
collaboration between BGTR, the Irish Marine Institute, Torbay Council
and the MBA Escuela Gran Canaria. A limited supply of the
document, entitled "Planning for Marine Ecotourism in the EU Atlantic
Area: Good Practice Guidance" (ISBN 1 86043 326 X), is available.
For further details email meta@uwe.ac.uk or visit the META- website at www.tourism-research.org/METAhome.html.
STOP PRESS Another document arising from META-, entitled
"Genuinely Sustainable Marine Ecotourism in the EU Atlantic Area:
A Blueprint for Responsible Marketing" (ISBN 1 86043 327 8) is also
now available.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Press Release May 2000
UWE researchers win major funding to investigate the
potential for
marine ecotourism in the EU North Atlantic Area
How can Dolphin-watching holidays off the coast of Gran
Canaria, a marine life centre based in the English Riviera and diving
and Whale-watching holidays in the West of Ireland affect the
marine environment and support local communities living in these areas?
This question will be at the heart of an international research
project lead by a team of researchers at the University of the West
of England (Bristol UWE).
An interfaculty team of researchers from Bristol UWE's
Bristol Group for Tourism Research have been awarded funding 490,000
EUROs for a unique project which will assess the potential of marine
ecotourism for the European Atlantic area (the META- project). Funding
has been awarded by the European Regional Development Fund
via the EU Interreg IIC Atlantic programme and the UK Department
of Transport, Environment and the Regions.
UWE Researchers from the Faculty of the Built Environment,
Bristol Business School and the Faculty of Economics and Social Science
will work with partner projects in Gran Canaria, Torbay and the West
of Ireland.*
The purpose of the META- project is to promote genuinely
sustainable marine ecotourism as a tool of regeneration, particularly
in fishing communities hit by the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, and
to influence policy guidelines appropriate to local, regional, national
and transnational spatial planning.
The project is funded over two years and research activity
falls into three areas.
These include a baseline audit of ecotourism in each of
the designated areas and three case studies, concentrating on varying
aspects of ecotourism relating to the area where they take place.
In addition, a conference will be held in Bristol in September 2001
to report and discuss findings with the wider interested
community. The research and conference are timely for the proposed
United Nations Year of Ecotourism, 2002.
Dr Brian Garrod, of the Faculty of Economics and Social
Sciences, said "Many fishing communities in the EU North Atlantic
area have entered a period of serious economic and
cultural decline. At the same time, tourism has decreased
because of the heavy promotion of the Mediterranean area by package
tour operators. As a result, such communities are in
crisis".
David Bruce, of Bristol Business School, added "We are
not setting out to actively promote ecotourism if our research proves
that this may not benefit either the environment or the local communities.
Our primary objective is to underpin future policy making by setting
out guidelines for good practice on a local, regional national
and transnational level."
The research will focus on four parallel projects, based
in different regions that could benefit from their stunning local
marine environment through ecotourism. These 'parallel projects' will
take place in Gran Canaria, Torbay and the West of Ireland.
Rosemary Burton, of the Faculty of the Built Environment,
spoke of the importance of understanding ecotourism. She said,
"We recently met up with our research partners in Portugal and it
was agreed that we would adopt an interpretation of marine ecotourism.
We shared the view that nature based tourism should be low impact;
that it should raise appreciation of the marine environment and
its wildlife; that it should contribute to environmental conservation
and provide appropriate benefit to the local community."
"We also agreed that ecotourism could also include the
interpretation of local culture as a part of the tourist experience
and that it should be managed to be less unsustainable. Although
relatively little tourism meets these criteria we agreed that it
is these characteristics that tourism should move towards in order
to qualify as 'ecotourism'."
The long term benefits of the research will include a spatial
planning and transport policy guidance and a blueprint for producing
marketing strategies for marine ecotourism.
Editors' notes:
1/ The project partners include the Marine Institute, Dublin;
Torbay Council; Fundacion Escuela de Negocias, Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria, Spain; Polytechnic of Viano do Castelo,Portugal; the Department
of Environment, Transport and the regions (UK) South West Tourism
(formerly West Country Tourist Board); Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Society; Biscay Dolphin Research Programme; Ecoscope Applied
Ecologists: City of Plymouth; Shannon Development, West Clare Network
Initiative, the Minch Project.Gobierno de Canaries, Patronato di
Turismo de G.Canaria, Fed. de Empresarios de Hosteleria y Turismo
de Las Palmas, ATLAS, Whale and Dolphin Trust - Mull.
2/ The UWE Bristol Research Team -
David Bruce, Bristol Business School
Dr Brian Garrod, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences
Rosemary Burton, Faculty of the Built Environment
Julie Wilson, Bristol Group for Tourism Research
Maria Casado-Diaz, Bristol Group for Tourism Research