If you follow this blog frequently you might know that from time to time we publish final master thesis from the students that graduated from the Master of Arts Tourism Destination Management at Breda University of Applied Sciences.

This example is produced by Margareta Spranger and deals with ‘From lockdown to recovery’, a more resilient future for Munich tourism in the context of degrowth. Below you can find the executive summary of the paper. If you would like to read the whole thesis, please send an email to master-tdm@buas.nl. Enjoy the read! 

The master thesis aims to discuss a more resilient future for urban tourism with the example of Munich, Germany, following the global Covid-19 crisis. This is done by exploring solutions in relation to the degrowth paradigm with the residents functioning as the most important stakeholders. While urban tourism grew significantly over the past decade, there were many conflicts circling overtourism and overcrowding in popular urban destinations. At the same time, certain limits to the economy of growth became all the more evident in light of the global pandemic. In Munich overtourism is not yet a problem, however, first signs of resident’s dissatisfaction can be observed. So, as the pandemic is seen as an accelerator for discussions to rethink tourism, Munich makes for an interesting destination to explore the recovery in terms of tourism for the city not the city for tourist.

The goal for this research was to explore a more resilient future for Munich, and therefore, various perspectives were taken into consideration. For this, semi-structured interviews with industry experts and residents of Munich were conducted, as well as a focus group with BA tourism students focusing on destination management and sustainable tourism. A thematic analysis led to three major themes that describe the findings of this research: 1) Munich tourism: between economic importance, indifference and new opportunities; 2) Degrowth, from catchphrase to ultimate goal; 3) Off the beaten track tourism: a problematic approach.

Findings suggested that residents of Munich don’t perceive tourism as a problem, however, consciously avoid certain tourist hotspots or mega events such as the Octoberfest. Also, they are not aware of the DMO as the tourism planning organisation, but, like experts, Munich residents acknowledge the economic importance of the tourism industry. Further, new opportunities were spawned by the pandemic through alternative concepts implemented by the city and people realizing that things can go differently. Secondly, research showed that in an expert opinion, the degrowth paradigm is a valid approach to a more sustainable future. However, to reach the local communities it needs to become more practical. Lastly, off the beaten track tourism proved to be a difficult approach for the city of Munich. As residents are aware of tourist hotspots, they do not want tourism to spread to the different neighbourhoods. In addition, Airbnb, new hotel projects and the large influx of residents cause rejection of tourism spreading.

Overall, findings indicated that for tourism to be accepted it cannot be present within people’s living space. As a certain lack of communication between tourism officials and residents was detected, three consecutive actions points were suggested: 1) Establishing collaboration between the Munich DMO and other local online magazines and blogs to create space for encounters and increase acceptance; 2) Creating awareness to enable participation and co-creation; 3) Dispersing tourists in order to avoid crowds at main tourist attractions and at peak times by introducing suitable visitor guidance concepts following a low-touch approach.

In conclusion, the degrowth paradigm can resort to various supporting concepts to enable a more resilient future, especially with a more socially responsible tourism. Based on this it is time to steer away from conventional tourism concepts and involve resident’s more in the decision-making process.

If you follow this blog frequently you might know that from time to time we publish final master thesis from the students that graduated from the Master of Arts Tourism Destination Management at Breda University of Applied Sciences.

This example is produced by Jan Brandl and deals with the topic of motivating an intra-destination modal shift by developing mobility destination card concepts: The case of the Kitzbüheler Alpen Card. Below you can find the executive summary of the paper. If you would like to read the whole thesis, please send an email to master-tdm@buas.nl. Enjoy the read! 

The tourism transport sector is the main cause of carbon dioxide emissions within the tourism industry. Therefore, sustainable mobility concepts must be developed in order to reduce tourism’s negative impact on the climate. This research evaluates what the potential of mobility destination card concepts is, to support a shift towards an increased use of sustainable mobility, such as public transport. A mixed methods approach is applied, consisting of nine semi-structured interviews and an online survey, to investigate how the Kitzbüheler Alpen Card motivates an intra-destination modal shift amongst visitors of the Kitzbüheler Alpen destination.

The analysis shows, that the Kitzbüheler Alpen Card motivates public transport use by being a potentially quick and easy as well as stress-free mobility solution without additional costs. To reinforce this effect, it is recommended to facilitate the use of public transport through activity related guidance in the form of predefined routes. Additionally, it is suggested to in-crease the intrinsic value of public transport use by developing public transport-based activities and experiences. Lastly, destination mode quality is identified as fundamental basis for the attractiveness of public transport use, underlining the importance of monitoring and expanding the public transport network quality in the long-term.

If you follow this blog frequently you might know that from time to time we publish final master thesis from the students that graduated from the Master of Arts Tourism Destination Management at Breda University of Applied Sciences.

This example is produced by Baptiste Gautier and deals with the topic of the unexplored potential of promotional videos in destination marketing, a case study of The Wild Within in British Colombia. Below you can find the executive summary of the paper. If you would like to read the whole thesis, please send an email to master-tdm@buas.nl. Enjoy the read!

If a picture can say a thousand words, then a video can say a million.

This popular adage perfectly illustrates the power and potential of audio-visual material in promoting a tourist destination. In an ultra-competitive market, where marketing has gradually entered a new era as society becomes more digital, it is surprising to see too few tourism organisations using this unique communication tool. This can be explained by a combination of the under-valuation of this medium and the production limitations inherent in its creation.

This thesis, in order to further explore the role of a promotional video, uses a case study of the video The Wild Within, released on YouTube in 2014, which aimed to both vitrify British Columbia as a tourist destination and also to support the redesign of its brand image. Through the analysis of the context within which the video exists, and then its content, particularly through the perspectives of multimodality, aesthetics and semiotics, this master’s thesis aims to fill a certain academic gap on the subject as well as to draw generalities that will allow for the creation of better future promotional campaigns. A series of interviews were conducted with photographers from the province and actors involved in destination promotion. In parallel, an analysis of YouTube comments was conducted to explore the impact of such a video on the viewer. Finally, a framework was specifically designed for the research to determine the expressive dominance of The Wild Within video.

The results then showed the importance of an artistic aspiration of the brand image and an overall aesthetic coherence, made possible by an efficient communication between the DMO and the content creators as well as the reiteration of artistic codes. The promotional video can then seamlessly integrate a destination branding strategy, being in a way the final illustration of the desired artistic direction. The predominance of a semiotic perspective was then considered essential to the co-creation process between the DMO and the production company. This semiotic vocation of a promotional video is then communicated aesthetically and supported effectively by the visual and auditory dimension evolving in a complementary symbiosis.

Jana during her graduation ceremony in September 2020

Jana was honoured 8 September during the ATLAS annual online conference for winning the ATLAS 2021 Master first prize. The Jury has decided to award the ATLAS 2021 Master first prize to Jana for her thesis: Exploring the Paradoxes of Privacy and Big Data Analysis in Tourism Destination Management. A case study: Austria.  

In this thesis Jana explored the utility of Big Data analysis in Tourism Destination Management while identifying the arising paradoxes regarding privacy. It seeked to derive practical policy implications that balance the needs of a digital tourism economy on one hand and the rights to privacy and data protection on the other. The thesis first concludes that the potential of Big Data analysis for Tourism Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in Austria is high but vastly underutilized except for digital marketing and communication. 

Secondly, this study found three inherent paradoxes of privacy and Big Data: a paradox of supply and demand, the transparence paradox and a paradox of power and competition. Based on these findings, this research suggests nine recommendations for DMOs. The jury found this a thesis of outstanding quality, focusing on an important, topical and timely subject, thoroughly researched using a robust methodology, with very convincing and well-argued conclusions of great potential practical application by DMOs. In sum, the jury found the thesis a critical, analytical and intelligent piece of work.” 

How were you nominated? 

My supervisor Erdinç handed my thesis in to ATLAS and I was unaware of it until I received an email from ATLAS congratulating me. To be honest, I first thought it was a junk email – one of those “you won if you send us €10.000” emails. Then I did some research and realized it is a very prestigious price and consulted with Erdinç. I was then offered the opportunity to present at the conference and I thought it was a great opportunity to engage with others from the scientific community but also to share my results because you put so much effort into your thesis and it just feels great to receive feedback and possibly add some value through the results you have generated. 

Were you nervous? 

I was very nervous. I prepared double the number of slides I eventually used because there was so much to tell. The night before I practiced and managed to nail 16 minutes which of course I exceeded at the conference, but everyone was very polite about it! However, I also think it is super important to overcome your fears by just doing it and eventually you will get better at it. 

Do you have more ambitions in research? 

Yes, I do. Erdinç and I are currently working together on an article based on my thesis. I genuinely enjoy writing and researching so I would love to engage in more projects in the future! There is just something exciting about it. When you start out, you just have a question or an interest and then you are confronted with an overwhelming amount of input and data. You have no idea yet if you will be able to generate meaningful results and then you try to narrow things down more and more until suddenly a picture or a common thread emerges. It may be what you expected or something completely opposite. I think for me it’s a way of making sense of a highly complex world. 

What do you think of the collaboration with the TDM staff? 

It was absolutely great. If it wasn’t for my supervisor Erdinç, I would have never entered in the ATLAS competition or attempted to publish a paper. I received a tremendous amount of know-how and support from the TDM staff! 

Please click here to go to the Dutch-spoken interview.

If you follow this blog frequently you might know that from time to time we publish final master thesis from the students that graduated from the Master of Arts Tourism Destination Management at Breda University of Applied Sciences.

This example is produced by Chloé Ourites and deals with the power of dance: the opportunity of an online dance event
to strengthen a destinations’ potential after the Covid-19 pandemic. Below you can find the executive summary of the paper. If you would like to read the whole thesis, please send an email to master-tdm@buas.nl. Enjoy the read! 

This exploratory research aims to identify new opportunities characterized by dance holidays for a destination’s tourism potential and attractivity. It has been investigated through the spectrum of the brand-new Line Dance event called ‘Original Line Experience’ (OLE). ‘Dance holidays’ is an inventive concept that combines dance workshops and parties with tourism in a given destination. This research was set up to be conducted before, during and after the first edition of this real-life event that was going to take place in Calpe (Spain) from the 31st of May till the 7th of June 2021. However, Covid-19 prevented it from happening live. As part of the event staff, the researcher suffered a crisis management situation throughout the whole event and research process. The organizational change from a physical to an online event in 2021, renamed ‘Original (On)Line Experience’, led to a complete change in the research topic.

Initially, the study goal was to research the opportunities representing dance holidays for a Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO). The researcher aimed at demonstrating that dance holidays can strengthen a destination’s development potential and increase its attractivity. For that purpose, the OLE live event in Calpe was supposed to be taken as a case study. As the researcher would have been on the field, it was very convenient to conduct interviews and focus groups with all stakeholders involved, as well as real-life observations.

Nevertheless, only two months before the planned date of the event, the event director had to take the difficult decision to cancel the live event in Calpe. Due to the spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sanitary conditions were worsening, and governments had prohibited all physical gatherings from happening to avoid more contagion. The only possibility left to maintain the event was to organize it online. The entire OLE staff was willing to complete this project which had already required a considerable amount of work. However, this shift from physical to online represented an issue for the researcher, who had already set the basis for the research.

Although the researcher was not willing to abandon this subject which was so close to her heart. The challenge was indeed to carry on and stick to the original concept as much as possible. Obviously, changes had to be made along the process because the ‘tourism destination impact’ perspective had been taken away. In addition, the event itself was as exploratory as the research as it was happening for the first time (both live and online). It was indeed not ‘just’ a simple change since nothing was planned out to be online, and there was not any OLE ‘blueprint’ to follow. Everything had to be experimental and decided quickly and efficiently.

Like the event, the research had to be redesigned promptly as the initial research goal did not match an online event. There was no link to the destination’s DMO anymore. Subsequently, the research goal has been shifted to understanding how this unexpected change to an online event during the Covid-19 pandemic could represent an opportunity for the future physical development of OLE 2022. This online event is now considered a test event that could advantage the future growth of the event in the destination of Calpe. In that way, there is a link established from virtual to physical. Although, the target group researched is still the line dance lovers themselves. The main objective was then to find out their primary motivations to travel to this specific place to dance and visit.

Therefore, the context of this exploratory and inclusive research has been set, and research questions were generated, giving a direction to the study. Moreover, four hypotheses were designed to facilitate the conduction of the exploratory research. These hypotheses were conceived in order to find out if the initial assumptions of the researcher about line dance events were accurate concerning the needs and wishes of the researched target group. As the study went in many different directions and showed unexpected outcomes, the researcher verified these hypotheses after data collection and analysis. Hypotheses were not always conclusive and would require follow-up, but it is the first step into a new research opportunity.

Research methods also had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic situation and the shift to an online event. Secondary data collection has been realized through desk research, showcased in the literature review and supported by netnography. However, this research topic has never been done before, at least not within the context of this study. Therefore, it has been challenging to find relevant sources to comprehend.

Thereafter, the necessary primary data was obtained using three research methods: an online survey, interviews, and field notes. First, a quantitative online survey has been conducted. It gathered 249 respondents from 28 countries from the line dance world and 113 OLE participants. The analysis of the data triangulation has been done through Excel cross tables and brought some interesting insights. Besides, eight qualitative interviews were carried out: five with participants in OLE 2021 online, two with line dance business experts, and one with a couple of social dancers. These were analyzed through thematic analysis and different coding schemes that were applied to a comparative table. In the findings section, these results were illustrated through mind maps and discussed. Finally, field notes from inclusive research were incorporated to validate the previous findings and get an insider’s perspective.

A major outcome of the study is that the line dancers target group involves passionate people, to which dancing is essential to their mental and physical well-being. Covid-19 obviously disrupted their dancing lives, creating severe social, mental and financial damage. However, an incredible wave of solidarity created new opportunities, bringing these online classes and events such as OLE at the forefront, making the most of this dramatic situation. The sense of community of line dancers became powerful. Dancers are willing more than ever to come back to the dance floor and travel to execute their passion, preferably in a beautiful sun and beach destination. This represents an opportunity to switch from virtual to real in the best way possible.

The perfect way to attract this passionate target group seems to be with flexible packages with a competitive price, great choreographers, and pleasant touristic activities to discover the place. Besides, adding a competition to the social event (like it was done at OLE) represents an excellent occasion to bring social dancers and competitors together in great numbers and let them stay at the destination. At last, offering dancers the possibility to bring their family along appears to be the last step in their decision-making to book an actual dance holiday, not just a weekend. To do so, quality tourism activities should be offered. Moreover, other dance businesses are encountering remarkable success for more than ten years with an ever-growing demand. This industry is indeed profitable. This concept of benefiting from the attendance of dance competitors for them to stay at the destination and make it a holiday for a week or two could assumedly be applied to any other dance style or sport.

Finally, conclusions were drawn as an appropriate answer to the research questions and to formulate recommendations for live OLE 2022 and future research. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, the final outcome is the best that could be accomplished given the circumstances, making the task all the more complicated and challenging. This research process has not been an easy journey, although looking back at the ever-changing challenges taught me a lot. It made me realize and practice my skills in being innovative, adaptable, resilient and satisfied with what I was able to achieve. This research represented a perceptive journey, professionally but also personally, as I got to explore this field I am passionate about. Applying multi-tasking skills, as I was managing the event and the research simultaneously, proved to be exhausting but captivating.

This research assignment became indeed much more than ‘only’ applying methods to get answers to my questions. I also learnt a lot about myself along the way, as my unusual research topic acted as a catalyst for uncovering my far unexplored skills and abilities. Contrary to my initial expectations, I am thankful for the circumstances that made this happen.

The Tourism Destination Management program is jam-packed full of various classes, activities and events.

One of these being the “Academic Speed Dating”. Now I don’t know about you, but when I first heard of this, I had to double take. Speed dating is not something that I want to connect with my teachers! Fear not, however, as it is much more productive and much less hassle than dating; no need to overthink an outfit, conversation topics, or spend an hour on the phone to your friend whilst getting ready!

In reality, it’s an event that offers a great opportunity to meet with eight  available thesis supervisors. In an intimate setting, students were able to talk with each supervisor about their research interests. This is only the second year it has taken place and it can be said that it was a great success. Not only was it helpful for the thesis research, it also allowed for students and teachers to meet, which has been difficult due to Covid. Putting names to faces added value to the study as it made it more personal.

Upon arrival, students sat in groups of three and waited for a teacher to fill the fourth chair. When the event started, each teacher had 4 minutes with every group. Within this time, the teacher was able to pitch themselves; how they will be able to add value to various theses, thanks to their personal/professional backgrounds. After the speed round, the students had the possibility to sit with a teacher that had “caught their eye”, for want of a better phrase. Here there was about 10-15 minutes where topics could be shared and advice given.

My experience:

In my opinion, this event was a great way to get to know more BUas lecturers, as well as gain clarity on my thesis topic. Having already had a topic in mind, I was able to approach the teachers about it and acquire different perspectives and advice that is very valuable in the development of my idea and consequential thesis.

Reviews from other students:

Heymell: “The thesis speed dating was very informative and incredibly interesting. Being able to freely discuss a wide variety of topics allowed for us to refine our ideas and follow up on questions with regards to our research. The advice we received was very handy and I expect that it helped many in furthering their potential. I look forward to working with my future thesis supervisor and am excited for future discussions.”

Voordes: “The speed dating event was a great opportunity to meet with potential thesis supervisors and get inspired with their ideas. The first round, they briefly introduced themselves and their interests. We got to speak with each of them for about 4 minutes. The second round we could choose whom we wanted to speak more with, to share our own ideas/interests with them. I went home overwhelmed, but with new inspiration and motivation!”

D, Hendriks: “I was looking forward to the speed dating, as despite all the corona measures, it would be the first face-to-face moment for the thesis. Different date setups were with chairs, where three students and one teacher could take place. Because of this setting, in my opinion, you got a good idea of how the person works and whether she/he fits your thesis topic. All in all, it was a valuable afternoon for me, and I was able to observe many different ideas from my fellow students. By brainstorming together in this way, it helped me to take the next step in my thesis process—a fun, active form of brainstorming.”

PSA, Covid-19 regulations:

Due to the virus, precautions were taken in alignment with the campus restrictions and regulations were adhered to. The event took place in the stunning chapel building in two shifts, allowing for the maximum of 30 attendants per time.