Tourism and Service Management

Organized by the European Travel Commission,World Tourism Organization, European Cities Marketing & MODUL University Vienna

MODUL University Vienna was hosting its annual events on September 07 and 08, 2017: the 13th TourMIS Users’ Workshop (day 1) and International Seminar on Residents’ Attitudes towards Tourism (day 2). 78 delegates from 21 countries attended this year’s events, the majority of whom represented city and national tourist organizations, as well as international tourism organizations, universities, and companies from the hospitality and tourism industry. In addition to the regular workshop attendees we happily welcome every year, there were also many new faces in the audience, eager to learn about TourMIS and about the residents’ attitudes towards tourism – a topic which is making its way to the top of the agenda in a growing number of destinations.

The first day’s workshop provided an introduction and discussion of important TourMIS features, and focused primarily on the topic of benchmarking tourism destinations. The workshop was led by Dr. Karl Wöber, President of MODUL University Vienna, and developer of TourMIS, and was further enriched by the contributions of Lidija Lalicic and Irem Önder (MODUL University Vienna) who presented the New Meetings Industry Benchmarking tool and Web Analytics tool. As such, this workshop was particularly interesting for people sharing their tourism statistics on TourMIS as it provided an extensive training on how to use TourMIS, as well as the overview of the latest extensions to the database. Further, a discussion on various options for the future development of TourMIS concluded this day.

The International Seminar on Residents’ Attitudes towards Tourism focused at a mind-shift that has taken place in an ever increasing number of destinations, where tourists are perceived as a threat for the quality of life. Ko Koens (CELTH), Olivier Henry Biabaud (TCI Research), Vincent Nijs (Visit Flanders), and Michel Julian (UNWTO) shared their expertise on identifying and quantifying the problem and the benefits. Sophia Quint (Visit Berlin) and Alba Lajusticia (Turisme de Barcelona) opened the afternoon theme that dealt with experimenting with solutions. Lastly, Petra Tschöll (Vienna Tourist Board), Lone Alletorp Callard (Wonderful Copenhagen), and Patrik Pavlacic (StudentMarketing) concluded the seminar by sharing their expertise on the topic of blending residents and tourists.

Both events were generously sponsored by ECM, Austrian National Tourist Office, and Vienna Tourist Board, and we would like to thank them for their continuous support. We are all looking forward to the next year’s workshop!

Prof. Dr. Karl Wöber, President

Contact:

Dr. Bozana Zekan
bozana.zekan@modul.ac.at
Assistant Professor / Senior Lecturer
MODUL University Vienna