The Centre of Tourism & Leisure Management (CTLM) of the University of South Australia continues the delivery of the award-winning IFITTTalk industry events by organising another great workshop on “New Technologies and Innovation in (Wine) Tourism” on the 25th November 2019. The IFITTTalk featured: a pre-event practical workshop on “How to maximise your brand on TripAdvisor” delivered by Melissa Laurie, (TripAdvisor, Principal Client Partner, APAC Media); two presentation sessions including a line-up of nine brilliant speakers all experts on their field, and; and a social networking event celebrating the CTLM successes in 2019.
CTLM has been growing from strength to strength rising its research and teaching performance. Tourism and hospitality research at UniSA has increased from a 3 star to a 4 star ranking in the 2019 ERA results (Australia Research Council, ARC) as well as from 25th in 2018 to 21st in 2019 Shanghai Ranking’s Global Rankings for hospitality and tourism management. “These are outstanding results reflecting our commitment to focussed research development, publication in the highest quality and highest impact outlets, and support for global research partnerships with other leading business schools and top international scholars” reported by Professor Marianna Sigala (Director of the CTLM, University of South Australia, UniSA). The event was attended by more than 70 industry and academic participants and it was officially opened with a welcome speech by the Hon David Ridgway (Minister Trade, Tourism and Commerce, South Australia).
The first session of the IFITTTalk included five presentations analysing the impact of various technological advances in tourism innovation. Sarah Gardiner (associate professor, Griffith University) talked about the affordance of big data to enhance performance and drive innovation in tourism. Sara gave several examples of tourism projects undertaken by GIFT (Griffith institute of Tourism) showing how the analyses of big data can revolutionalise the way destinations and tourism firms manage sustainability, monitor and enhance performance on real time, derive new understandings, insights and perspectives of known issues. In her talk titled “Going behind the curtain of the Modern Traveller”, Melissa Laurie (TripAdvisor, Principal Client Partner, APAC Media) explained how online user-generated-content and reviews influence tourists’ decision-making but also expectations and satisfaction from tourism experiences.
Laura Tolson (Lateralvision, Adelaide) talked about the use of Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality/eXtended Reality and their affordances in making an intangible tourism experience more tangible, immersive and engaging. Laura gave various examples of such applications in tourism, while she also highlighted the role of these technologies to make tourism experiences accessible to people with disabilities. Mark Kasperski (Independent Business Consultant) provided various examples of robotics in tourism and hospitality and elaborated on their positive but also negative impacts on service quality, customer-robotics interactions and experiences as well as labour issues. The last presentation by Emanuele Tonello (Lead Engineer, Travel by Bit) focused on the use and impact of blockchain in tourism. Blockchain (including smart contracts and cryptocurrencies) is an emerging technology applied in all facets of tourism operations (CRM, logistics, supply chain, procurement, loyalty programs, payments). Emanuele provided various examples of blockchain applications in tourism, while it also talked about its potential benefits and risks.
The second session of the IFITTTalk included four presentations focusing on wine tourism tech applications. Technology is revolutionalising the wine tourism sector in all its facets. Professor Marianna Sigala (University of South Australia) gave an overview of various technologies transforming both the wine tourism demand and supply including: wine crowdfunding; blockchain for ensuring authenticity and quality in wine; online wine tourism communities for wine exchanges-transactions, communications, networking and marketing; online search tools and AI supporting search and evaluations of wine (tourism) offerings; applications enriching and supporting wine experiences at destinations and cellar doors. Dr Darren Oemcke (Hydra Consulting, Representing FOMENT) explained the need and importance of supporting wine tech start-ups and innovation in South Australia (SA). In this vein, he presented FOMENT, an incubation SA government co-supported initiative aiming to mentor and support entrepreneurs in the wine – tourism tech field. The last two presentations were delivered by two wine tech entrepreneurs explaining the functionality but also the innovativeness and impact of their business solutions. John Evans (Founder, Trust in Taste) explained the design and benefits of the world’s first virtual Cellar Door and its impact in creating trust for promoting and presenting Australian’s wines in the Chinese market. Richard Owens (Managing Director of Withwine.com) gave illustrative examples on how to use customer data and feedback for developing and fostering relations with clients. He further showed the functionality of withwine and how this application can help wineries but also destinations to build customer loyalty.
The event closed with a social networking event with food and wine sponsored by 1847 Wines, Chateau Yaldara. Professor Marianna Sigala (Professor of Tourism, Director of CTLM, University of South Australia) thanked all presenters and participants and promised that the CTLM will be back with more events and greater performance outcomes in 2020.
Tags: IFITTTalk
