The UNWTO Education Council held a groundbreaking conference at the…
The UNWTO Education Council held a groundbreaking conference at the General Assembly in Dakar, Senegal. Focusing on the concept of ‘Knowledge Applications for Competitive Destinations’ the event stimulated substantial debate from a large audience of Member Countries and Affiliate Members. Lively discussion was achieved by the organizers’ innovative approach of creating four panels, each comprising a mix of Member Country representatives, affiliates and Education Council members.
Conference chair, Professor Chris Cooper (The University of Queensland, Australia) said that: The aim of the UNWTO Education Council conference was to showcase the role of knowledge management in tourism to UNWTO Members and ensure that UNWTO Members were fully aware of the possibilities of knowledge management to deliver competitiveness to the tourism sector. From all points of view, the conference was a big success, with strong presentations from international experts and excellent informed discussion.
The main message from the conference was the need for knowledge to underpin innovation and competitiveness of destinations, particularly in terms of balancing new product development with sustainability and the needs of the developing world. This was stressed by Mrs. Rejoice Thizlondi Mabudafhasi, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa and reinforced in a strong message on the imperative of harnessing knowledge as a tool to assist tourism in poverty alleviation by Mrs. Young, Shim Dho, Tourism and Sports Ambassador, Korean National Tourist Organization, Republic of Korea.
Following the opening ceremony, the panels clearly illustrated the application of knowledge and knowledge management as an instrument of public sector tourism policy. The first two presentations focused on knowledge-based techniques of destination management. The first by UNWTO’s Dr. Eduardo Fayos-Sola outlined the UNWTO.Sbest Programme for Excellence in DMOs as a new tool for assessing excellence in destination management. The second by Dr. Angelika Liedler, Director, International Tourism Division, Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, Austria, presented Austria’s Destination Management Monitoring Project. Both these approaches lie at the forefront of applying knowledge for excellence in developing competitive destinations and stimulated substantial discussion from the floor.
The conference panels focussed on contemporary destination management utilising new knowledge management approaches. For example, Assistant Professor Dr. Maria D. Alvarez and Professor Dr. Meral Korzay, from Bogazici University, Turkey discussed the role of knowledge for the strategic positioning of destinations to culturally different markets. A new approach to destination management, known as the ‘visitor experience value chain approach’ was presented by Professor Donald E. Hawkins and Ms. Milena Nikolova, George Washington University, United States of America. A destination specific presentation was provided by Dr. Francois Bedard, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada on the destination management system: a powerful instrument of knowledge management for destinations – the case of BONJOURQUEBEC.COM. Other presenters focused on key issues of destination management including Professor Peter Burns, University of Brighton, United Kingdom on the role of public awareness programmes; Professor Pauline J. Sheldon and Dr. Nina Mistilis, University of Hawaii, United States of America on knowledge management for tourism crises and disasters; and Professor Rodolfo Baggio, Universita Bocconi, Italy on technology and tourism destinations.
These presentations stimulated debate on the fact that knowledge management has been neglected by the tourism sector, yet it can provide deep and meaningful insights for public sector tourism organizations, specifically in terms of positioning, quality and efficiency of destinations. In particular, knowledge management provides an effective tool to achieve the goals of public sector tourism organizations, to formulate tourism policy, and to improve destination competitiveness. However, discussion from a number of participants also stressed the need for tourism knowledge to be made more accessible to governments and industry – a point stressed by one of the industry discussants, Mr. Randall M. Williams, President and CEO, TIAC, Ottawa, Canada. The government of Andorra for example has taken a strong lead in this area and the approach was outlined in the opening by Mr. Jesus Ramirez Palomo, Commercial and Tourism Attache, Embassy of Andorra in Spain.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
