School of Leisure, Sport & Tourism: Tourism Management Project

The Tourism Management Project is the major piece of work completed by final year students in the Bachelor of Management in Tourism. It involves completing a substantial project on a tourism-related management problem, which requires students to draw broadly on the skills and knowledge they have acquired during their course. In this sense it represents the capstone of the course, intended to allow students to demonstrate that they can translate their academic abilities into practical effect.

Students are effectively put into a situation where they are acting as specialist consultants to tourism industry clients. They work on real world management problems and issues. It is up to the student to investigate the problem and find a solution to it which benefits the client.

Tourism management problems are defined broadly. The notion of tourism management can include matters that relate to tourist destinations, sectors of the industry or individual enterprises, and even managing the effects of tourism on communities or specific interests. A "problem" can relate to the current circumstances confronting the client, eg. declining market share, or a future opportunity, eg. how to develop a new product, or a lack of current knowledge about an important factor impacting on the client's ativities. A broad range of topics may be suitable for the Tourism Management Project.

What Does the Project Involve?

The project encompasses two subjects within the degree and extends across the full final year of study. In the first semester, commencing in March, students complete a number of preparatory steps, including:

selecting an appropriate project topic and tourism industry client, in consultation with the project coordinators,
preparing a background paper which demonstrates an understandingof the management problem and the client's needs in relation to it,
reviewing a range of approaches suitable to solving the problem and then selecting the most appropriate method, and
developing a detailed plan for researching and solving the problem and addressing the client's needs.

This means that, by the start of second semester in late July, the students should be well equipped to undertake the necessary research and ultimately produce a professional standard report by November. At the end of the year students also make a formal presentation of their project findings to an audience of industry clients, academic staff and their fellow students.

What are the Benefits for Clients?

Through the Tourism Management Project, tourism industry oganisations have the opportunity to have work completed for them that their own resources and time constraints may not normally allow. This may be particularly beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses. Often clients also benefit from having an objective third party look into a problem and provide solutions to it. At the end of the project the client receives a professional standard report detailing the findings and any recommendations arising from the project. Clients also have the opportunity to gauge the abilities of a future tourism professional who may one day join their organisation.

What is the Role of the Client?

The client's role may vary depending on the nature of the topic. Generally they will be involved in:

negotiating the project topic and objectives so that the outcomes will be of some value to their organisation, and
to some extent directing the student's work towards satisfying the objectives. The major responsibility for directing the student's work, however, rests with the member of our academic staff who is appointed as supervisor for the project.

More specific expectations of the client are outlined below.

Project brief

Where possible, clients are asked to detail their requirements to students in the form of a concise brief, which indicates desired project outcomes and/or objectives. This should ensure that there are no unnecessary misunderstandings between clients and students.

Assistance with assignments

In the early stages of the project the student must obtain information from the client about the organisation and its needs in relation to the problem. These are essential inputs into the background paper and influence the overall direction and successful completion of the project. Consultation with the client is also necessary if the student is to prepare an appropriately focussed project proposal.

Support

Additionally the client may offer some support in terms of providing workspace and/or necessary information, or financially supporting certain aspects of the project, such as the printing of questionnaires or extraordinary travel costs. The amount and type of support is likely to depend on the perceived value of the project to the client. Where there are likely to be high costs associated with a project we recommend that students negotiate this with the client at the proposal stage. Any problems in dealing with this matter should be referred to the project supervisor or the project coordinators.

Meetings with students

We recommend that students maintain regular contact with their clients, however the frequency and manner of contact is variable and open to negotiation. Students are advised to negotiate these arrangements with their client at the start of the year. In their relationships with clients students are expected to act in a responsible, professional manner at all times. The onus of maintaining a sound working relationship with the client is on the student - if a client reports that a student has acted in an inappropriate way he/she may receive a fail grade.

Nominated contact person

A specific individual within the client's organisation should be nominated as the direct contact person for the student. They should preferably be reasonably senior or have some relevant managerial responsibility. To cover the possibility of that person leaving the organisation during the course of the project, it would be useful to initially nominate a "reserve" who could then assume the role.

Assessment

Clients will have a role in the assessment of final reports at the end of the year. They will be asked to comment on such things as the professionalism of the report, and the practicality of its recommendations. Clients will not be asked to "mark" the project, but their comments will be taken into account by supervisors in assigning a final grade.

Work experience placement

Another component of the Tourism Management degree is a compulsory period of work experience. While this is not an essential part of the Tourism Management project, it may be very useful for students to complete a work experience placement with their client some time during the year. Both students and clients have reported that this works well - better quality reports usually result because the student has a better understanding of the client and their needs.

Student presentations

Clients are invited to the formal presentations of the project findings, which are usually held over a two-day period in early November. Clients are generally welcome to attend presentations of any student's project that interests them, as well as that of their own student.

Client and academic requirements

In undertaking the project students are attempting to satisfy two sets of requirements - those of the client and the university's academic requirements. On occasions, academic requirements may exceed those of the client. For example, a client may only request a preliminary investigation of a particular matter, but this may not involve a project of sufficient depth or difficulty to satisfy course requirements, if so, the academic requirements take precedence and the final report will need to go beyond what the client has requested. Alternatively, the client's requirements may go well beyond what could reasonably be expected of the student in terms of their capability, time constraints and resources, and the scope of the project would need to be negotiated down.

How Many Students Work on a Project?

Students may work on a project individually or in pairs. This will depend on the scale and nature of the project. Students working in pairs will be expected to undertake more challenging projects or pursue the relevant matters in more depth.

Can a Client Have More than One Project?

Clients may request that a number of projects be done for them. Some clients in the past have had up to four projects running in one year. A number of different students, however, cannot work on the same project topic unless they are doing so in a collaborative pair.

How Does the University Support the Project?

In the first half of the year, just prior to submitting the project proposal, each student will be assigned an academic supervisor. The supervisor will be a member of the teaching staff with appropriate knowledge and expertise so that they can guide the project. The supervisor acts as a general advisor to the student and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the project report meets academic standards.

What Are the Key Dates?

Precise dates will be set at the start of each new year. However, the key dates mainly revolve around assessment tasks associated with other stages of the project. These comprise:

Selection of topic and client	mid March
Background paper	mid April
Problem-solving method evaluation	mid May
Project proposal	early June
Progress report	late August
Final report	late October/early November
Verbal presentation	early November

Who to Contact if There are Problems or Questions

Clients may contact either one of the project coordinators or their student's supervisor. Students should inform clients of their supervisor's name and contact details as soon as this is known.