The Institute is named for one of the world’s leading tourism entrepreneurs, John Kent, whose substantial contribution to the University will make it possible for postgraduate researchers from around the world to take up a number of PhD studentships at BU over the next two years.

During a gala in London to celebrate the formal launch of the new Institute Mr Kent , the creator and CEO of youtravel.com and Aquis Hotels and Resorts, announced that applications for the first four new PhD studentships are now invited with successful candidates set to join BU from this Autumn. Details of the new studentships are now available on a new website at www.bournemouth.ac.uk/johnkent which also debuted at the event.

The studentships are offered in a range of industry-relevant topics that Mr Kent believes will help improve the quality of the global tourism industry, from the use of technology and multi-media elements in tourism marketing to aspects of consumer loyalty and satisfaction as well as the industry’s response to international issues such as security in the face of terrorism and the response to the current economic climate.

Speaking before an audience of leading figures from tourism, hospitality and academia, Mr Kent said: “Improving the Hospitality Industry through education has always been a primary area of focus to me and undoubtedly research programs offer great input to this industry. The idea of an institute to facilitate this overwhelming need for education and training has been in my plans for a long time and is now a reality through a very high profile institution like Bournemouth University.”

BU’s School of Services Management, respected globally as a centre of excellence for tourism and study research, will support the successful applicants for the new John Kent studentships. The School boasts the largest cohort of postgraduate tourism students in the UK and is home to the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, one of the leading research centres of its kind in the world.

“John Kent is an entrepreneurial pioneer of e-tourism and an enthusiastic supporter of tourism research at our esteemed university,” said Professor Paul Curran, Vice-Chancellor of BU. “While the studentships will focus on tourism they will also take advantage of our intellectual breadth and help us to develop activities in areas as diverse as tourism and health; tourism and economics; tourism and climate change; tourism and psychology and tourism and communication.”

Last November, Mr Kent was named as a BU Visiting Fellow and will use his strong track record in the tourism and travel industry to all of the University’s students in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes related to tourism and hospitality.

“I am grateful to Professor Curran and his colleagues at Bournemouth University for making this Institute a reality and I it remains my strong desire to expand and develop even more opportunities for tourism research in the future.”

New PhD students to ‘transform’ the tourism industry
Bournemouth University (BU) is now accepting applications from candidates for the first of 11 tourism-related PhD studentships available through the newly-created John Kent Institute in Tourism.

The John Kent Institute is named for one of the world’s leading tourism entrepreneurs, John Kent, whose substantial contribution to the University will make it possible for postgraduate researchers from around the world to take up a number of PhD studentships at BU over the next three years. 

The fully-funded PhD studentships will be awarded between 2010 and 2012 and will strengthen the University’s global reputation as a leading provider of tourism research and education.

BU’s School of Services Management, respected globally as a centre of excellence for tourism and study research, will support the successful applicants for the new John Kent PhD studentships. The School boasts the largest cohort of postgraduate tourism students in the UK and is home to the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, one of the leading research centres of its kind in the world.

The studentships are offered in a range of industry-relevant topics to help improve the quality of the global tourism industry - from the use of technology and multi-media elements in tourism marketing to aspects of consumer loyalty and satisfaction. The proposed topics also encompass the industry’s response to international issues such as security in the face of terrorism and the response to the current economic climate.

The confirmed subject titles for the John Kent PhD studentships are:

• Empirical Estimation of Customer Loyalty in Tourism
• Overlapping consumer motivations: the case of nature-based tourism
• An ethnographic study of the socio-cultural impacts of surf tourism on the indigenous surfing community
• Consumers as producers: the dimensions of consumer-to-consumer co-creation in the event experience
• Virtual Holiday Resort Immersive Experiences
• 3D Mobile, Context-Aware Tourism City Applications: Technology challenges and user requirements
• Innovative service marketing delivery using social media networking: Learning from review websites in the tourism/hospitality industry
• Catering for the tourist satisfaction and well-being
• Tourists, terrorism and the media

Details of the new studentships are now available online at www.bournemouth.ac.uk/johnkent. The deadline for applications is 30 April, 2010.

John Kent
John Kent is a serial entrepreneur within the global tourism and hospitality industries.  Kent has managed to build value both as an executive and as an entrepreneur in six major companies. He founded MedHotels.com and TravelBargains.com revolutionising the package holiday and creating the dynamic packaging model for holidays in the UK market. Both companies were then acquired by lastminute.com, and John was appointed as UK Managing Director of lastminute.com with global responsibility for the procurement of hotels. He has since generated a range of dynamic projects and is currently the founder & CEO of Youtravel.com, the online resort accommodation provider, with backing from Barclays Ventures. Recently, Kent invested in Aquis Hotels and Resorts which aims to build a portfolio of wholly-owned hotels and hotels under management in the Mediterranean area. This venture has attracted substantial financial backing from Abu Dhabi.

International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR)
The work of The International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) at BU is recognised globally through published research in journals, books and reports. Many stakeholders are involved in supporting the work of the ICTHR including research agencies, the European Commission, national governments, international agencies and innovative tourism and hospitality organisations. Together they enable ICTHR to incorporate the pragmatism of the business world with the rigour of academia.