LPHT Culture, Communication and Tourism Introduced

Duration: 6 Hours class contact. It is, however, expected that students wishing to successfully complete the unit will normally spend a minimum of another 5-10 hours outside class researching and preparing the assessed material, liaising with colleagues, reading around the subject area and considering its relationship to other LPHT units

Objectives: To harness and build upon pre-existing knowledge of LPHT units across the

curriculum To define and consider culture and its impacts upon and implications for Tourism. To consider the role and value of culture as an attractor for destinations national,

regional and local. To consider culture as a feature of international Tourism management To act as a base for the further development of the theme of culture in Tourism

Programme/Plan: (2 x 3 hour sessions)

Teaching Schedule:

Unit set-up. unit structure and rationale; resources (traditional and online) ; assessment strategy. Defining ‘Culture’ Potential role of culture in Tourism. Basic Communication theory. Mini-Assignment set up. (Tutor-led)

Demand side issues International marketspace and cultural differentiation.. Supply-side issues Culture and its representation in marketing and animation. Culture within the organisation. Mini-assignment.

Assessment

This assignment is very brief (as the unit teaching time is only 6 hours) and will be based upon a team presentation made in class. I will require thought, participation and contribution on your part rather than research and essay/report production. It will involve some thought by the teams outside class, however.

You will be divided into FIVE teams with equal number of members. You will ‘Brainstorm’ your answers to the following and then each team will deliver an ‘Elevator Pitch’ to me and the other teams.

You will be given 10 minutes only per team to get across your answers and suggestions as clearly and succinctly as is possible. (You will be stopped on the stroke of 10 minutes – you have been warned!)

Teams will be chosen in Wk1 and the brainstorm and presentations delivered in Wk 2.

Assessment (Contd)

Team A. Is there such a thing as ‘Alsacian Culture’? What exactly is it, and is it marketable? How can you turn such an intangible thing into a concrete Tourism marketing opportunity?

Team B. To what extent has Tourism destroyed the cultures that once drew people to them? Is Tourism a global force for cultural homogenisation? Is such homogeneity desirable / acceptable? Can Tourism’s impact on cultures be made to be benign or positive even (rather than negative)? How might this be achieved?

Team C. Do generalist Travel Agents OR Tour Operators OR National/Regional Tourist Offices really make the most of 'culture' as a stimulus to sales? To what extent do their websites OR brochures feature 'culture' as opposed to other dimensions/attractions? Is the mass market interested in 'culture'?

Team D. What are the potential positives and negatives in operating within (or leading) a team drawn from many different national cultures? Are more varied opinions, ideas and ways of going about things refreshing and ultimately helpful ... or an annoying, unfocused and time-wasteful distraction? Does one manage by knowing the general, stereotypical characteristics of persons from particular nations or by knowing the individual?

Team E. 1. “With the Internet, one marketing message can potentially reach everybody who is attached to the system/network: it is relatively cheap and simple to achieve”. Mr A. Reasoned-View (2009)2. “It is people who are at the end of the network with whom contact, communication and relationship needs to be made: such people are from entirely different national, regional and local cultural backgrounds: it is desperately expensive to adapt messages to culture, but there is no other effective alternative.” Mr A. Pretty-Good Idea (2009)3. “‘One message for all’ and ‘culturally adapted messages’ miss the point: we are all individuals and not averages of a local, national or global community – we want to be approached individually. As Anna Pollock put it: ‘We are no longer in the era of the mass market, but in the age of mass markets of one’.” Mr Yaw Allwrong Imright (2009)Consider the above and where the truth may lie.

Means of Assessment. I will engage with the teams in their initial brainstorms in class and will listen to (and may ask questions concerning) your team’s 10 minute ‘Elevator Pitch’. I will be looking for the following:

1. Full coverage of all the component questions asked2. Very clear and succinct presentation of the most critical items3. Evidence from experience and knowledge of Tourism and of culture4. Creative ideas and suggestions5. A ‘convincing’ pitch which I would be prepared to support.

NBs.1. I am NOT looking for powerpoint (I doubt you would try to show one in an

elevator!).2. I will only award the team base mark to people who ARE present and contribute. (If

you are absent, do not expect to receive the mark unless you have medical or other reasons acceptable to Course Management).

3. Although I am expecting everyone to participate in the Brainstorm, clearly I cannot expect you all to participate in the presentation itself…. Although I will expect anyone to be able to answer questions about it!

4. I will not be marking the technique of the presenting persons but may offer feedback on this to the presenters if they would like it.

As to the actual weighting of the mark, I will produce a mark /20 for each team and present it to the tutor who carries forward the unit. I imagine my mark will be weighted according to the number of hours in my element of the unit compared to the unit as a whole.