Huge success for Bournemouth University at World Travel Market

Page published: 16 November 2011

BU puts the School of Tourism on the map at the 2011 World Travel Market (WTM).

BU is proud to be the only UK University to have ever held an exhibition stand at the event. WTM is the leading global event for the travel industry and this year’s was attended by thousands of journalists and international travel professionals.

WTM provided a great opportunity to network and BU received a positive response from the attendees we spoke to.

During the event, BU engaged with industry professionals on the upcoming BU Talent event, held in ExCel, London on 28 November. BU Talent is designed to put employers in touch with the School of Tourism staff to find out more about the strategies they are adopting in developing the future supply of graduate talent in the tourism, hospitality, events and retail sectors.

BU was complimented on the quality of our tourism students and industry figures were really excited to hear about plans for the school to be innovative and engage with them through both placement and graduate opportunities or research in relation to eTourism.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis ran the Futures forum at WTM, answering tourism’s biggest questions on the future of the industry. The forum received a fantastic response from attendees, with over fifty people having to be turned away due to popular demand for tickets. Professor Buhalis also gave three press interviews that will be received by a global audience.

The BU stand also welcomed Jean-Claude Baumgarten, Vice-Chairman of the World Travel & Tourism Council who commented on the fact that BU is the only UK University to be involved with the WTM.

He said, “Bournemouth University has always had a keen interest in the travel industry. What I like about BU is that it is reaching out of academia and coming to the private sector in one of the biggest human activities in the world. After all, travel and tourism is the ultimate service industry that needs talented individuals because people serve people.”

Find out more about BU Talent at our ‘Engaging With Employers’ event.