Promotion of wellbeing as a destination resource
Lead Research Organisation:
Bournemouth University
Department Name: Faculty of Management
Abstract
This proposal offers the opportunity for connecting different destination stakeholders, with the specific aim of facilitating innovation in healthy lifestyle products while contributing to a competitive local tourism economy. Through inter-stakeholder dialogue, tourism businesses will be in a position to increase their marketing effectiveness, and develop new products and services that will provide an enhanced value-added experience for visitors. This proposal will accelerate tourism business growth via an improved understanding and implementation of wellbeing and it will facilitate the exchange of knowledge between tourism businesses, policy makers (both public health and tourism), and wellbeing academics. Tacit knowledge in particular is required for innovation and this network will provide the platform for the conduit translating this into action to enhance destination competitive advantage. Five outputs are proposed in the geographic context of Bournemouth & Poole and the surrounding environs (areas that have a natural potential for wellbeing):
1. Wellbeing Destination Knowledge Networks and Ideas Café
A self-selecting network recruited through the NCTA will meet three times through 2014-15 commencing June 2014. Each session will be facilitated by BU and NCTA staff and feature invited speakers on a specific aspect of wellbeing whilst allowing for mentoring activity, business to business. Examples of best practice via case studies will act as a catalyst to foster innovation in co-creating destination and well-being products. These sessions will occur in Bournemouth with two additional sub-regional Ideas Cafés (an identified requirement from the recent pilot event), one at Kingston Maurward College on the outskirts of Dorchester and one at a hotel in Weymouth.
2. Facilitating Student and Employer Engagement
This component of the network will seek to involve the participation of 20 businesses assigning consultancy projects to final-year students across the spectrum of hospitality, sport, tourism and wellbeing. This will enhance the student learning experience providing them with real life research opportunities. Employers will benefit from the opportunity for cost-effective research and tacit knowledge exchange.
3. Wellbeing Hub
A web presence within the NCTA will act as a resource for business and local government to communicate and engage in active dialogue. Emphasis will be on the exchange of knowledge in a manner that sets the foundations for a longer-term self-sustaining network based on 'Destination Wellness'. A common platform will be supplied to provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary dialogue and capacity-building, establishing a knowledge bank in this field. Social capital theory supports this tacit knowledge base facilitated by knowledge exchange between experts and dissemination of their expertise.
4. Innovation Sharing
The co-development and dissemination of a series of podcasts is of particular importance to the project due to the ease with which such outputs can be accessed locally or through the internet and shared internationally. These will be developed showcasing case studies of good practice while identifying opportunities and potential barriers to a wellbeing market position.
5. Spin off to local residents/employees - local community
This work will inform a partnership between BU, the NCTA and the visitor economy whilst contributing to activity of the Bournemouth 2026 Trust which aims to advance and improve life for the communities of Bournemouth to achieve its long term vision of a 'thriving town that is fun, safe, healthy and green'.
The network will be a beneficial addition to our previous activities in the tourism and wellbeing area. These to date include an invitation to join the EU COST action, 'Tourism, Wellbeing and Ecosystem Services (TObeWELL)', where our specific role will be to identify and evaluate health and wellbeing in terms of its relationship with tourism products.
1. Wellbeing Destination Knowledge Networks and Ideas Café
A self-selecting network recruited through the NCTA will meet three times through 2014-15 commencing June 2014. Each session will be facilitated by BU and NCTA staff and feature invited speakers on a specific aspect of wellbeing whilst allowing for mentoring activity, business to business. Examples of best practice via case studies will act as a catalyst to foster innovation in co-creating destination and well-being products. These sessions will occur in Bournemouth with two additional sub-regional Ideas Cafés (an identified requirement from the recent pilot event), one at Kingston Maurward College on the outskirts of Dorchester and one at a hotel in Weymouth.
2. Facilitating Student and Employer Engagement
This component of the network will seek to involve the participation of 20 businesses assigning consultancy projects to final-year students across the spectrum of hospitality, sport, tourism and wellbeing. This will enhance the student learning experience providing them with real life research opportunities. Employers will benefit from the opportunity for cost-effective research and tacit knowledge exchange.
3. Wellbeing Hub
A web presence within the NCTA will act as a resource for business and local government to communicate and engage in active dialogue. Emphasis will be on the exchange of knowledge in a manner that sets the foundations for a longer-term self-sustaining network based on 'Destination Wellness'. A common platform will be supplied to provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary dialogue and capacity-building, establishing a knowledge bank in this field. Social capital theory supports this tacit knowledge base facilitated by knowledge exchange between experts and dissemination of their expertise.
4. Innovation Sharing
The co-development and dissemination of a series of podcasts is of particular importance to the project due to the ease with which such outputs can be accessed locally or through the internet and shared internationally. These will be developed showcasing case studies of good practice while identifying opportunities and potential barriers to a wellbeing market position.
5. Spin off to local residents/employees - local community
This work will inform a partnership between BU, the NCTA and the visitor economy whilst contributing to activity of the Bournemouth 2026 Trust which aims to advance and improve life for the communities of Bournemouth to achieve its long term vision of a 'thriving town that is fun, safe, healthy and green'.
The network will be a beneficial addition to our previous activities in the tourism and wellbeing area. These to date include an invitation to join the EU COST action, 'Tourism, Wellbeing and Ecosystem Services (TObeWELL)', where our specific role will be to identify and evaluate health and wellbeing in terms of its relationship with tourism products.
Planned Impact
The impact of this project will be the co-creation and fusing of academic and practitioner expertise to innovate within the emerging wellbeing agenda and hence maximise commercial potential, while providing a platform for dialogue for tacit and explicit knowledge exchange. The concept of wellness tourism is an area where strategic priority is being given in many European destinations and policy documents from the WHO adds corroborating evidence of currency and importance. With much debate on aspects of wellbeing, social tourism and inclusion prevalent at both national and local levels, most notably in Bournemouth with the Town's 2026 vision group, there is momentum building in this topic area to pump-prime innovative development. The environment of Bournemouth & Poole provides an ideal platform to launch new product initiatives aligned to wellbeing (areas that all have a natural potential for wellbeing) and is a market that is currently under-utilised by the local business community.
Impact outside of the academic arena is primarily behavioural and economic to enable organisations in the wider visitor economy to focus on wellbeing to generate an economic impact within their own organisations, the destinations in localities and arguably within society. The public benefit emerges from the strengthening of improved economic performance for both private and public organisations which is aligned to the NCTA mission of accelerating destination growth. Achieving higher levels of visitation and income from tourism is critical for the creation of employment and wealth and as a means of supporting the infrastructure required to assist the needs of visitors and resident communities alike.
This project will enable SMEs in local economies to use wellbeing to increase their global attraction, encourage more visitors, and strengthen their overall competitiveness through innovation, to improve their income and long-term sustainability.
The first benefit will be gained by those SMEs that voluntarily receive the knowledge being transferred into the business to enhance their awareness and development of a wellbeing marketing focus. Through this, SMEs will gain advantage from more cost effective and tailored marketing activity, the creation of a customer database, and an ability to more accurately research the needs and wants of their customers. Additional beneficiaries will be those stakeholders at the destination level who either directly or indirectly come into contact with those SMEs partaking in the transfer of knowledge. Benefits will come in a variety of forms but will primarily be economic in that the composite nature of destinations ensures that non-participants will also benefit from improved knowledge attained by others. The more SMEs that engage with the wellbeing agenda, the more likely it is to serve as a catalyst for others which over time will enhance the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the local economy and be more pro-social for local society. The only way to measure such an outcome is to include a project tracking study which gauges the adoption, implementation and reaction of organisations to their more effective use of wellbeing as a marketing tool. The Bournemouth University, Market Research Group, will fulfil this function by evaluating activity across the geographical area pre and post project. The report will be placed on the Wellbeing Hub hosted within the NCTA web presence.
Consequently, there is a societal impact that extends beyond the ability of destinations to leverage health creation in re-branding and marketing, but also a public health impact that can contribute to both sustainable health and economic gain. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) where the PI is a Trustee will facilitate full project dissemination to members, (c.a. 9,000) from a multi-professional background. The RSPH headquarters in London will provide a national base for a project launch.
Impact outside of the academic arena is primarily behavioural and economic to enable organisations in the wider visitor economy to focus on wellbeing to generate an economic impact within their own organisations, the destinations in localities and arguably within society. The public benefit emerges from the strengthening of improved economic performance for both private and public organisations which is aligned to the NCTA mission of accelerating destination growth. Achieving higher levels of visitation and income from tourism is critical for the creation of employment and wealth and as a means of supporting the infrastructure required to assist the needs of visitors and resident communities alike.
This project will enable SMEs in local economies to use wellbeing to increase their global attraction, encourage more visitors, and strengthen their overall competitiveness through innovation, to improve their income and long-term sustainability.
The first benefit will be gained by those SMEs that voluntarily receive the knowledge being transferred into the business to enhance their awareness and development of a wellbeing marketing focus. Through this, SMEs will gain advantage from more cost effective and tailored marketing activity, the creation of a customer database, and an ability to more accurately research the needs and wants of their customers. Additional beneficiaries will be those stakeholders at the destination level who either directly or indirectly come into contact with those SMEs partaking in the transfer of knowledge. Benefits will come in a variety of forms but will primarily be economic in that the composite nature of destinations ensures that non-participants will also benefit from improved knowledge attained by others. The more SMEs that engage with the wellbeing agenda, the more likely it is to serve as a catalyst for others which over time will enhance the overall competitiveness and sustainability of the local economy and be more pro-social for local society. The only way to measure such an outcome is to include a project tracking study which gauges the adoption, implementation and reaction of organisations to their more effective use of wellbeing as a marketing tool. The Bournemouth University, Market Research Group, will fulfil this function by evaluating activity across the geographical area pre and post project. The report will be placed on the Wellbeing Hub hosted within the NCTA web presence.
Consequently, there is a societal impact that extends beyond the ability of destinations to leverage health creation in re-branding and marketing, but also a public health impact that can contribute to both sustainable health and economic gain. The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) where the PI is a Trustee will facilitate full project dissemination to members, (c.a. 9,000) from a multi-professional background. The RSPH headquarters in London will provide a national base for a project launch.
Publications
Page S
(2017)
Case study: Wellness, tourism and small business development in a UK coastal resort: Public engagement in practice
in Tourism Management
Page S;
(2017)
Case study: Wellness, tourism and small business development in a UK coastal resort: Public engagement in practice
in Tourism Management
Pyke S
(2016)
Exploring well-being as a tourism product resource
in Tourism Management
| Description | This project offered the opportunity for connecting different destination stakeholders, with the specific aim of facilitating innovation in healthy lifestyle products while contributing to a competitive local tourism economy. Through inter-stakeholder dialogue, tourism businesses were enabled to increase their marketing effectiveness, and develop new products and services that would provide an enhanced value-added experience for visitors. The project gave tourism businesses an improved understanding of wellbeing and the confidence to implement this direction within their marketing schema. A final report and project film is available on Destination FeelGood web site. Five outputs were proposed and achieved; 1. Wellbeing Destination Knowledge Networks and Ideas Café A network of local businesses, recruited through the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA) met six times through 2014-15 at sessions referred to as 'Ideas Cafés'. The sessions were run in Bournemouth, Dorchester and Salisbury and each was facilitated by Bournemouth University and NCTA staff. The sessions incorporated guest speakers who spoke on aspects of wellbeing and they also allowed for networking and mentoring activity. The sessions were: • Marketing and Product Opportunities in Health and Wellbeing • Food, Innovation and Legislation • Healthy Staff, Healthy Profit 2. Facilitating Student and Employer Engagement The project involved Bournemouth University students, across the spectrum of tourism, media and hospitality in various aspects, from consultancy projects to dissemination activity. The aim was to enhance the students' learning experience, providing them with opportunities to be involved in real life consultancy work. 3. Wellbeing Hub - Destination FeelGood Using a bespoke web presence within Bournemouth University and the NCTA, a dissemination platform was designed to act as a resource for business and other interested stakeholders to communicate and engage in active dialogue. Emphasis was on the exchange of knowledge in a manner that sets the foundations for a longer-term self-sustaining network based on 'Destination Wellness'. 4. Innovation Sharing A series of podcasts were developed and disseminated (hosted permanently on the web site) which both capture the information from the ideas cafés and also showcase three case studies of learning and good practice. A tracking study was also commissioned to evaluate the extent to which knowledge exchange has taken place. The Bournemouth University Market Research Group is undertaking this study, evaluating activity pre and post project. The final report will be published on the Wellbeing web site in September 2015, identifying opportunities and potential barriers to a wellbeing market position. 5. Spin off to local residents/employees - local community Key actors from the local community such as public health consultants and relevant NGOs including Active Dorset have been kept abreast of project developments and they form an important conduit to the local community. On a wider scale, other interested stakeholders such as the Royal Society for Public Health and Visit Britain will have a further opportunity to hear more about the project's success and to discuss ways to take it forward, at a celebration and dissemination event to mark the official project end on 24th September 2015. |
| Exploitation Route | The web site will serve as the primary vehicle for the dissemination of research-informed materials and allows for networking across all user groups via its social media channels. Through its role as the central source of dissemination for all events and related activity, a proactive strategy of engagement for SMEs with the web page has been implemented and statistics of traffic are presented in the final project report. Qualitative comment received at all events and network meetings has been captured to ensure the relevance and timeliness of the academic research taking place. Although a proposal with a strong local orientation, the data captured will inform the development of future academic outputs derived with user organisation consent, and provide evidence to support future policy and advice locally and nationally while enhancing further the reputation of BU academics in the wider Tourism domain. We have been successful in securing HEIF funding for 2016 which will enable extension of the project as a platform to disseminate novel solutions to current health challenges. The project will also feature in the ESRC 'Festival of Social Science' 2016. This activity will involve working with a group of children from a local primary school to understand their emotional and sensory connections with the coast. |
| Sectors | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| URL | https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/destinationfeelgood/ |
| Description | ESRC - Destination FeelGood narrative report Introduction Project Outline The importance of wellbeing is increasingly recognised as a crucial aspect of tourism and a factor of strategic growth amongst tourism providers. However, in the local area of Bournemouth and Poole, although this is an emerging area of interest from a policy perspective, the tourism potential of a positioning towards wellbeing has not been fully realised, providing an ideal platform to launch new product initiatives aligned to this direction. Key Outputs Events to launch and disseminate activity A network of local businesses, recruited through the National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA), met six times through 2014-5 at sessions referred to as 'Ideas Cafés'. The sessions were run in Bournemouth, Dorchester and Salisbury and each was facilitated by Bournemouth University (BU) and NCTA staff. The sessions incorporated guest speakers, who presented on aspects of wellbeing, and also allowed for networking and mentoring activity. The sessions were: • Marketing and Product Opportunities in Health and Wellbeing • Food, Innovation and Legislation • Healthy Staff, Healthy Profit Student and employer engagement The project sought to involve BU students across the spectrum of tourism, media and hospitality in various aspects, from consultancy projects to dissemination activity. Wellbeing Hub Using a bespoke web presence within BU and the NCTA, a dissemination platform, Destination FeelGood, was designed to act as a resource for businesses and other interested stakeholders to communicate and engage in active dialogue. Innovation sharing A series of podcasts were developed and disseminated (hosted permanently on the wellbeing site) which both capture the information from the Ideas Cafés and also showcase case studies of learning and good practice. Impact The web platform served as the primary vehicle for the dissemination of research-informed learning materials. Through greater awareness and access to knowledge, participation in events and opportunities to network and learn from peers, access to state-of-the-art podcast learning and access to students, impact across the local tourism economy had the potential to be significant. To monitor and help shape future impact, feedback was received at all events and network meetings to ensure the relevance and timeliness of the academic research taking place. Press releases have been posted on a regular basis and a short film produced by a BU media student, deposited on the BU channel 'YouTube' (http://www.youtube.com/user/bournemouthuni). Other types of media, such as Twitter, have also been used as complementary to the project. Social media was used to maximise public engagement and in particular the research blog hosted by BU was populated with research updates (http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/). This receives almost 8, 000 hits from unique visitors every month. BU has a clear public engagement mission, and the project will feature in the ESRC Festival of Social Science, November 2015. In addition, a project conference for national dissemination was organised at the flag ship premises of the Royal Society for Public Health in London. Tracking Survey As part of the Destination FeelGood project, the Market Research Group (MRG) undertook a tracking study to evaluate the extent to which knowledge exchange had occurred - and the extent to which 'wellbeing' practices had been implemented - among local businesses. First-stage discussions were carried out in January/February 2015 and repeat discussions were undertaken with the same businesses in July 2015. Do local businesses feel that there is a need to develop "feel good" policies? The view that feel good policies are an essential component of good business practice was widely held by participants in both phases of the interview process. Accompanying this view was a belief that 'feel good' offerings and incentives lead to happy (and returning) customers, and thus successful (and expanding) commercial activity. Do local businesses believe that there is a current "feel good" trend within the tourism industry? Nearly all participants (in phases one and two) believed there to be a current 'feel good' trend within the tourism industry. This trend was perceived to be linked to increased needs and expectations on the demand side, as well as increased innovation and competitiveness on the supply side. Significantly, some of the small business owners interviewed expressed concerns that they were unable to compete with the 'FeelGood' offering of larger tourism establishments. Do local businesses believe that their customers expect more "feel good"opportunities from them? Several of the participants interviewed mentioned that customers were becoming more receptive to 'feel good' ideas, and thus more demanding of 'feel good' offerings and incentives within the industry as a whole. Interestingly, however, it was uncommon for participants to highlight particular areas for 'feel good' development within their current business offering; most felt that they were already servicing the needs and expectations of their own customers in relation to 'feel good' tourism. Do local businesses include any "feel good" factors in their marketing messages? All of the business owners interviewed stated that 'feel good' themes feature heavily in their marketing messages. Whilst one participant reported that they prefer to use 'local advertising' and 'word of mouth' communication, most mentioned that online marketing was their primary tool for promoting and publicising a 'feel good' offering. What are the most commonly used "feel good" themes within local tourism marketing? 'Comfort', 'peace and quiet' and other similar 'feel good' themes featured strongly in the marketing of the businesses interviewed. In addition to this, businesses were inclined to advertise personal 'feel good' touches such as the offer of a friendly or family-run service. Interestingly, there were no discernible changes in marketing outlook or behaviour between phases one and two of the interview process. Do local business owners believe that their customers are responsive to"feel good" marketing? All of the business owners interviewed felt that their customers were highly responsive to "feel good" marketing. Yet, participants also suggested that a variety of marketing platforms are needed in order to successfully disseminate 'FeelGood' messages. In terms of marketing content, interviewees acknowledged the importance of tailoring 'feel good' themes around factors specific to their own business offering. There was also a shared emphasis on evoking the idea of a friendly, homely and welcoming hospitality environment through marketing slogans and materials. Do local tourism businesses operate staff-based 'feel good' policies? Many of the business owners interviewed reported that they do not operate any 'feel good' policies or procedures for their staff. Importantly, however, these same participants were keen to stress that they embrace 'feel good' principles of respect and gratitude in their overall attitude towards employees. Other business owners reported that they do have formal policies and procedures in place. These policies varied in nature according to the provider and included staff social events, parties and activities; staff training events and opportunities; discounted tickets to non-staff events; and, in one instance, a staff bike loan scheme. There were no discernible differences between the responses of phase one participants and the responses of phase two participants. Do employers believe that staff-based 'feel good' policies help their business? Participants widely agreed that staff-based 'feel good' policies are conducive to a happy and successful business environment. As well as feeling that customers respond best to an environment in which staff members are happy and contented, interviewees additionally suggested that 'feel good' policies can be useful tools for instructing staff members about business products, standards and values. Assessing the Impact of the Ideas Cafés New Policies and Procedures When asked whether any new knowledge gained from the Ideas Cafés had inspired fresh 'feel good' policies and procedures, a number of participants mentioned that they had enhanced or developed their menu offering. In addition to this, several stated that they had developed a completely new 'feel good' product or business model and a small number stated that they had refurbished or part-refurbished their business in line with 'feel good' ideas. Negative comments relating to the Ideas Cafés were rare, with only two participants reporting that their business practice had remained the same since participating. Changes to Overall Business and Wellbeing Offer Whilst some participants felt that the Ideas Cafés had simply confirmed the importance of their existing policies and procedures, others reported that these sessions had made them more acutely aware of 'feel good' issues (in particular, dietary requirements) or indeed inspired and encouraged them to consider new ideas for their business. Conclusion The aim of this tracking study was to evaluate impact and examine the extent to which a market proposition of wellbeing had enhanced the performance of local businesses participating in the Destination FeelGood Ideas Cafés. Results found that businesses were highly attentive to vegetarian needs, strongly committed to continually revising and improving their menu offering, and acutely aware of the importance of catering to specialist dietary requirements. As many of the business owners interviewed were keen to impress, the Ideas Cafés themselves acted as an important educator where allergens and dietary needs were concerned. Nearly all participants believed there to be a current 'feel good' trend within the tourism industry although were unable to comment on, or to provide specific examples of, the 'feel good' approaches and practices of other businesses. This finding may well suggest that local business owners are clear on the overall concept of 'feel good' tourism, but less clear on how to identify (and implement) new policies that embody the 'feel good' philosophy. There were of course exceptions to this, with some providers highlighting specific steps taken towards 'FeelGood' improvement during the project. The Local Government Knowledge Navigator (http://www.lgkn.org/), which is the new platform for collaboration between academics and local government practitioners, will use 'Promotion of wellbeing as a destination resource' as one of their case studies. In addition, a case study based on the results has been submitted (2016) for publication to the journal, Tourism Management, a 4 star journal. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | As part of the ESRC's project 'Research Facilitation for Local Government' we are registered in the Local Governemnt Knowledge Navigator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | http://www.lgkn.org |
| Description | HEIF |
| Amount | £53,055 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2015 |
| End | 07/2016 |
| Title | Destination FeelGood |
| Description | Qualitative and mixed methods data is deposited on ReShare. Three case studies have been produced. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Impact is currently being evaluated. |
| URL | https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/destinationfeelgood/ |
| Description | The National Coastal Tourism Academy (NCTA) |
| Organisation | The National Coastal Tourism Academy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This is the first partnership between Bournemouth University and the NGO, the NCTA. We worked together facilitating the Ideas Cafes. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The NCTA partly funded the work, they were present at all managements meetings, contributed to the final report and the final dissemination meeting in London. |
| Impact | Summary of Outputs 1. Events to launch and disseminate activity A network of local businesses, recruited through the NCTA met six times through 2014-15 at sessions referred to as 'Ideas Cafés'. The sessions were run in Bournemouth, Dorchester and Salisbury and each was facilitated by Bournemouth University and NCTA staff. The sessions incorporated guest speakers who spoke on aspects of wellbeing and they also allowed for networking and mentoring activity. The sessions were: 1. Marketing and Product Opportunities in Health and Wellbeing 2. Food, Innovation and Legislation 3. Healthy Staff, Healthy Profit 2. Student and Employer Engagement The project sought to involve Bournemouth University students, across the spectrum of tourism, media and hospitality in various aspects, from consultancy projects to dissemination activity. The aim was to both enhance the students' learning experience, providing them with opportunities to be involved in real life consultancy work, and to provide the opportunity for cost effective research and tacit knowledge exchange for local employers. 3. Wellbeing Hub Using a bespoke web presence within Bournemouth University and the NCTA, a dissemination platform, Destination FeelGood, was designed to act as a resource for business and other interested stakeholders to communicate and engage in active dialogue. Emphasis was on the exchange of knowledge in a manner that sets the foundations for a longer-term self-sustaining network based on 'Destination Wellness'. 4. Innovation Sharing A series of podcasts were developed and disseminated (hosted permanently on the wellbeing site) which both capture the information from the ideas cafés and also showcase case studies of learning and good practice. A tracking study was also commissioned to evaluate the extent to which knowledge exchange has taken place and ideas implemented by local businesses with a focus on wellbeing. The Bournemouth University Market Research Group is undertaking this study, evaluating activity pre and post project. The final report will be published on the wellbeing site, Destination FeelGood, September 2015. 5. Spin off to the local community Key actors from the local community such as public health consultants and relevant NGOs including Active Dorset have been kept abreast of project developments and they form an important conduit to the local community. The project is multidisciplinary involving tourism, public health, nutrition and foodservice |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | CAUTHE Conference, Sydney, Australia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Title: A Systems Theory Approach to the Well-being Effects of Tourism Article Type: Working Paper Key Words: Well-being tourism; stakeholder analysis; measuring well-being; systems theory approach Abstract: Research on the well-being impacts of tourism is limited and there remains a dearth of literature on the significance of these benefits. Therefore, to better understand this relationship there is a need for more in-depth exploration and analysis. As a result, the aim of this research is to critically investigate the well-being effects of tourism on the individual. This study employs an exploratory mixed methodological research approach whereby inductive focus groups with key stakeholders contributed to purposeful input for the deductive tourist questionnaire. Focus group findings served as an initial exploration into the study to better understand how tourism stakeholders feel about the concept of well-being in relation to tourism. Furthermore, focus groups provided a way to investigate what the types of issues may be relevant to the questionnaire, a second empirical study to be conducted in order to quantitatively assess the well-being effects of tourism. In addition, focus groups findings were mapped onto the study's theoretical framework, confirming the importance of factors to be included in the questionnaire. Study participants will include a random sample of the general UK population. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://cauthe.org/ |
| Description | ESRC Festival of Social Science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The workshop will provide an exciting way for children to explore their emotional responses to the coast and to develop some creative ways to map these. The research will also contribute to broader social science debate by demonstrating how creative mapping can serve as both a research method and as a novel way of collecting and disseminating research findings. In addition, this topic will make use of and support learning from other areas of the curriculum, such as literacy, geography, science and arts. Participants will be actively engaged in this workshop. They will be given coastal artifacts and shown pictures where they will be encouraged to not simply 'look' at the seascape, but they will learn how to interrogate the environment with all of their senses, recording in creative ways what they see and sense and importantly, how the environment makes them feel and what is especially significant in influencing these feelings. The School is very keen to participate in further activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Global Festival of Learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The workshop will be interactive in nature by drawing on the tourism experiences of the attendees and disseminate the work of the ESRC Destination FeelGood project. Participants will contribute in a creative mapping exercise to create their own sensory and emotional maps of wellbeing and tourism, starting with the question 'how does it make me feel to be on holiday?' This will provide the opportunity to test and develop innovative and creative research methods whilst promoting social science in a fun and engaging way. The workshop will provide an exciting platform for participants to explore their emotional responses to being on holiday and to develop some creative ways to map these. The activity will also contribute to broader social science debate by demonstrating how creative mapping can serve as both a research method and as a novel way of collecting and disseminating research findings. In addition, this topic will make use of learning from the PhD. Advertisements of businesses currently using well-being in their marketing/promotional materials will be presented to the attendees to enhance the debate from a business focus. The session will last one hour. The research to be presented has been recognized as having a significant contribution to professional tourism practice. It is part of a national research project on tourism and well-being (Destination FeelGood ESRC Grant Agreement ES/L00884X/1) that serves as a platform for tourism stakeholders (businesses, policymakers and consumers) to explore the potential for well-being to be incorporated into their business operations. Fringe benefits from the workshop will be to explore with students the momentum building in this area and the significance for Malaysia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |