Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management - The First 10 Years - Waikato Management School - University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

The First 10 Years

Department celebrates its first 10 years.

This year, 2010, the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management celebrates its first decade of existence within the University of Waikato. While one of the smallest departments within the Waikato Management School, and although having only attained a total of 8 academic staff in the last 5 years, it has secured a healthy research oriented reputation. During the decade staff from the department have published a total of 148 academic refereed journal articles, of which 26 have been in the top three journals within the field of tourism, namely Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management, and 9 in the top three hospitality management journals, namely Cornell Quarterly, International Journal of Hospitality Management and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. In addition staff have written or edited a total of 14 books in the same period. This has been done while helping to introduce a new undergraduate degree programme in tourism and hospitality management, and establishing a healthy doctoral degree programme. In the decade 11 students have graduated with doctoral degrees and now teach or conduct research in Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong and elsewhere, while in 2010 it is expected that four more will graduate. After only 6 years of its life a study emanating from Hong Kong Polytechnic University ranked the Department among the top 15 in the world, and an American study from the College of Charleston in 2009 ranked the Department among the top 10 of the world's tourism and hospitality departments on the basis of research outputs.

Among the staff who have helped to develop this reputation are Professors Christine Lim and Alison McIntosh, who respectively enjoy international reputations in the field of tourism forecasting and heritage and cultural tourism. Associate Professors Tim Lockyer and Asad Mohsin have initiated new links in India and Pakistan, while Tim has also taught as a Visiting Scholar at Beijing International Studies University, with whom the Department has a research Memorandum of Understanding. Other staff, such as Dr Jenny Cave and Dr Anne Zahra, have won various awards or research grants, while 6 of the staff are either on the editorial boards of leading journals or have acted as guest editors. Among the roles fulfilled by the staff have been advisory roles for bodies such as the APEC Tourism Ministers or the New Zealand Ministry of Tourism. In addition, for the last three years the department has hosted Chinese scholars under the Chinese government's overseas scholarship scheme, and this has proven a rich source of research opportunities. Staff are sought as conference keynote speakers, thereby providing opportunities for staff to publicise the university in various parts of the world as recently exemplified by Professor Alison McIntosh in Israel and Italy.

The Department adopts an inter-disciplinary approach to research, but being located in the Management School also is able to take the social, cultural, economic and environmental issues one step further by being able to assess managerial implications of the impacts of tourist behaviours. In consequence, while on the one hand the department's research may include articles on the assessment of ARIMA, and spirituality in tourism on the other, the insights derived from management means that often the research examines questions such as - what does this mean for places, communities and environments within which these behaviours are exhibited, and how are these to be managed, interpreted, and for what end? Often the last question may require assessments of political realities. This is true of all societies, but perhaps is even a more pressing question in some of the research undertaken with Chinese colleagues. There is little surprise therefore that the department uses many different research techniques, ranging from the highly quantitative to those of structured qualitative research aided by computer software programmes, while also adopting strongly ethnographic approaches.

As the department enters its second decade it seeks to build upon its many initiatives. These have included opportunities for its students to study in Korea, its programme of work in the South Pacific Island nations headed by Charlie Panakera, its development of hospitality management training and degree development in India and Pakistan, and its past work in Oman. By its nature tourism is international and the department has used its growing global reputation to good effect in attracting students from around the world, especially at the post-graduate level. As Tim Lockyer has observed, not being in Wellington means we are not in daily contact with government, not being in Auckland means we are not in daily contact with the large corporates, but if you travel for 12 or more hours on an aircraft, another 90 minutes down the Expressway means little. In addition, once visiting dignitaries, colleagues and students arrive on campus, the beauty of the campus and the friendliness of the staff does the rest!

The new decade has started with yet more promise. One of our Master's students, Hamish Jenkins has won a Ministry of Tourism Scholarship award while Jenny Cave was one of five finalists and achieved a runner's up award out of 391 contenders for Emerald Publishing's Best doctoral thesis award in 2009. In short the department remains confident of a record of future achievement.

Details of the Department's research and staff members may be found on www.mngt.waikato.ac.nz/tourism.