Menu
Our news
Find out what our students and staff have been up to recently...
On Tuesday 19th March, the 1st year Tourism and Events classes took a trip to the Alford Ski Centre, for a morning of skiing as part of our Adventure and Activity Tourism module. This was a very good opportunity to get a taste of what skiing is like for beginners and was a great refresher for those who had done skiing before. Dry slope skiing is very different to skiing on snow, according to the members of the group who had been skiing before, but was still a very fun activity for everyone, no matter how experienced and skilled they were before. Overall, this was such a great morning – despite a sudden, short but very heavy downpour. Everyone in the class agreed that it was a very worthwhile experience and that skiing was something that they would definitely consider again! From a personal standpoint I was a little apprehensive in the run-up to the day, as skiing was something I had never considered before and I didn’t think it would be something that I would enjoy. However once I got my skis on and started going, I had a really great time and wished that we had even longer so that I could practice. Gail was so lovely and made everyone feel at ease no matter how well they were doing and got us all up to a good standard in a very short space of time! Blog post by Declan Will (Events Management)
0 Comments
As part of their Wildlife Tourism module, last week 4th Year International Tourism Management students carried out a Field Trip to Forvie National Nature Reserve. At the Visitor Centre we met up with Reserve Manager Catriona Reid, who then accompanied us on a visit to three main areas of the Reserve: The Visitor Centre itself; Waterside – the most popular “gateway” to the Reserve; and the southern shores of the Ythan estuary in Newburgh. During the module we have been studying the different formal and voluntary management approaches that can be taken to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on wildlife habitats. Whilst out on the Reserve, Cat was able to highlight some of these impacts and illustrate the effectiveness, or otherwise, of tools and strategies including legislation, codes of conduct and interpretation resources. The most recent count indicates that the beach on the northern shore of the estuary is a now a regular haul-out for 3,000 grey seals: with March/April the busiest months and best for viewing. Although seals hauling out at the Ythan would have had their pups further south, this year a small number of pups were born at Forvie. Its too early to tell if this was an isolated occurrence or an indicator that Forvie is becoming a breeding ground too.
* A number of titles were considered for this post including: RGU students have a Seal-y good time; and Wildlife Tourism - The Seal Deal! A personal favourite was suggested by one of the students "...better than Craig's trip." (I may or may not have accidently forgotten the word "even" at the start of that quote.)
Blog post by Steve Harbert We are delighted to welcome Judith Spargareen as a PhD student to the School and subject area team. Judith joins us on a funded PhD through the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities on their Applied Research Collaborative Studentship Scheme. This scheme encourages Universities and industry partners to work together on applied research projects. For Judith, Edinburgh Napier are operating as the lead partner and RGU as the secondary partner and her applied project will be with Peterhead Prison Museum.
As part of our Sustainable & Ethical Tourism module, second year Tourism and Events Management students recently undertook a Field Trip to the Scottish Dolphin Centre. Sitting at the mouth of the River Spey, the centre is run by Whale and Dolphin Conservation: a global charity that campaigns for the protection of whales and dolphins. 20 of the 25 species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) found in the UK, can be viewed in Scottish waters: a fact that contributed to BBC Springwatch identifying Scotland as "One of the best dolphin hotspots in the world." During our visit we also learned that at up to 4m long, the local Moray Firth bottlenose dolphins are the world’s largest – thanks to the extra layer of insulation needed to cope with cold North Sea temperatures. Centre Manager, Alison and Education Coordinator, Lorna gave two presentations covering the work of the WDC, the role of the Centre and current campaigns #rudetointrude and ‘Help Michelin Change the Course.’ Information gained from the trip will be used a part of a 4-week collaborative project with students from Vancouver Canada, aimed at identifying "How Can Tourism Contribute to Achieving SDG14 – Life Below Water?" Many thanks to Alison and Lorna for their warm welcome and for sharing their knowledge and expertise. Thanks too to the students on the trip who made a generous donation in support of the WDC. Sadly, our visit was too early in the year for sighting dolphins or whales at Spey Bay but Spring and Summer are great times to visit. if you want to see dolphins closer to RGU, why not pay a visit to Greyhope Bay Centre and café on Torry Battery in Aberdeen. Here there’s an 80% chance you’ll spy dolphins in the harbour-mouth, year round. You can find out more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on their website (click here). As a condition of reproducing the UN Logo for SDG 14, it is important to highlight that the content of this publication has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States.
Blog post by Steve Harbert. Photos by Alona Roitershtein and Steve Harbert Free pizza, beers, prosecco, and hoodies! That is certainly one way to get students on campus! However, this was a special occasion to mark for our stage 4 events, tourism and hospitality students which was the start of their last undergraduate semester with us at RGU. As well as the embarkment of their final fourth year research projects which will be due at the end of April.
Every year, we are so glad to be able to have one of these final connections (there isn’t too many left now!) with our fourth-year students as a chance to catch up and have a social before they get into the academic hard stuff. The T.H.E team can’t wait to read their final projects soon and we wish them the best of luck with the final push! Have you ever thought “What’s the point of my studies? How will I connect this to industry or any potential career plans?” Well then we have an event for you 😊 We are delighted to bring back our subject area conference for the third year, once again in an informal and connective symposium format for students to engage/attend! Our stage 2 event management students have been hard at work conceptualising, planning and organising a subject area and CCB wide event which you are all welcome to attend on Wednesday 28th February between 1pm and 5pm, or for any of the sessions below. The aim of the afternoon is to provide a path that allows the transition of academic knowledge into professional working industry and will feature research presentations, interactive workshops as well as a CCB debate! Please visit our dedicated webpage for more information or to register your interest/sign up - we hope to see you there!
You might be wondering about the relevance of the title – but Icelandic culture is steeped in folklore and the supernatural – and really shapes the cultural identity, heritage, and storytelling of Iceland. Known as the ‘Land of Fire and Ice’, Iceland’s dramatic landscapes were my primary motivation to make a second visit, but the folk legends piqued my interest – originally prompted by Craig when he asked if I was going to bring him back a troll! Whilst I didn’t find any trolls, elves or Huldufólk, I did discover wonderful landscapes and wind like I’ve never experienced before. Kirkjufell Mountain Planning the trip, I deliberately selected mid-week in early January – hoping for a slightly quieter and colder holiday but also so my sister and I could hopefully catch a glimpse of the elusive Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). However, even the best laid plans go awry and unfortunately, we ended up with the worst week of weather between thick fog, heavy rain, and incredibly strong winds. Yet it didn’t spoil the trip – hiring a car meant we were still able to explore in comfort – as long as you don’t mind driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road in unfamiliar places. Driving in an unknown area and navigating presents its own set of challenges (like figuring out the fuel situation when there’s no English translation), but is also vaguely satisfying when you manage to successfully not get lost! Getting blown away! To make the most of our time, I planned out an itinerary – including two long road trips and some shorter driving days in between, as well as choosing the earliest flight out and latest flight back. Trudging to the airport in the small hours of the morning had me questioning my life choices – I am not a morning person, so I silently stewed over the early flight. Arriving into Keflavik airport at 9am, I had forgotten the sunrise was much later. An hour later having finally made it out of security and locating our shuttle, we headed to the nearby town to collect our hire car, then our first official stop was the Blue Lagoon. Normally I tend to avoid tourist hotspots, but it was conveniently located en-route to the hotel and a good experience. We arrived early so enjoyed lunch in the café there (be warned, it’s expensive!) before enjoying the tranquil and warm waters of the lagoon. With bitter cold high winds, I didn’t want to get back out! Afterwards, we headed to the hotel just on the edge of Reykjavik and spent the evening consolidating plans for the first road trip. Our second day was the road trip around Snæfellsnes Peninsula – known as ‘Iceland in Miniature’ thanks to its changeable landscapes. This was the worst day weather-wise with heavy rain, high winds, and biting cold, also combined with icy roads in places; this was the day I felt the car was going to be blown off the side of the cliff straight into the angry ocean. In spite of the weather, we both enjoyed the trip, stopping at several natural attractions, including Gerðuberg Cliffs, lava fields, volcanoes, Grundarfjörður, Kirkjufell, and we finished with a stop at Ytri Tunga in the hopes of catching a glimpse of seals (spoiler: no luck – the ocean was too angry) before returning to the hotel for dinner. Blue Lagoon Kirkjufell Mountain 2 After the long day of driving, day three was spent more locally. We spent the morning at the Perlan museum (well worth a visit), also enjoying a traditional Icelandic soup for lunch before exploring a lava tunnel in the afternoon. Being unsure what to expect, we had only booked the one-hour experience, but I later regretted not having booked the half-day as we enjoyed it so much! Getting to the tunnel was an adventure in itself – the fog was so thick that I drove past it the first time and had to double back, crawling along the road to make sure I didn’t miss a second time! After several accidents in the tunnels, they are now only accessible through booking a guided tour – but it is definitely worth it! Lava Tunnel After a comparatively easy driving day, our next day involved another long road trip – this time around the Golden Circle. Although this was one I had done before, I still enjoyed it – this time going counter-clockwise to avoid most of the tour groups and adding stops to places I previously hadn’t been, such as the Kerið Crater. At sunrise, this was particularly spectacular. My decision to go counter-clockwise paid off, avoiding all the tourist traffic and having beautiful empty roads all to ourselves. After the crater, we enjoyed the scenic drive up to Selfoss Waterfall, also known as the Golden Falls, before heading down to the Haukadalur Geothermal Field featuring the geysirs and stopping for lunch in the visitor centre café. It was getting later into the afternoon by then, so I made the decision to remove a couple stops to make time for Þingvellir National Park – where you can walk between the European and North American continents. Kerið Crater and Selfoss Having driven back in the dark, I was glad of a localised itinerary for our fifth and final day. It was a miserable wet and foggy morning, but we ventured into Reykjavik city centre to see Hallgrímskirkja and meander around the city. For a city centre, it was quite underwhelming – every other shop was a souvenir shop – all selling the same as each other with few variations, and very little opportunity to discover anything about Icelandic culture. Maybe I was in the wrong area, but it felt very inauthentic and staged – I much preferred our driving days. I had hoped to learn more about the legends and myths of trolls, elves, and huldufólk but without much luck. However, I did manage to locate a book on Icelandic Folk Legends in a bookstore and try a delicious, although incredibly sweet, local pastry (Kanilsnúðar – caramel covered cinnamon roll). Getting lunch from the same bakery, we then slowly made our way toward the airport to return the hire car and catch our flight home. Having heard of the volcanic activity around Christmas, I had hoped we might have seen some (from a safe distance) – but devastatingly we missed the eruption by less than 12 hours! As well, we hadn’t even managed to catch the aurora, no thanks to the miserable cloudy weather. Between Europe and North America Overall, it was an enjoyable trip – and a destination I highly recommend if you enjoy the outdoors. I’d have liked to have learnt more about the folk legends, seen some volcanic activity, and have witnessed the aurora – but having missed out this time, it gives me an excellent excuse to visit a third time – although I think on the next one I’ll venture north to Akureyri. Ps, I’ve included some tips to travelling in Iceland below! Happy Travels!
Jennifer Some tips to travelling in Iceland:
The aim of the day
We got the opportunity to visit to the Gordon Highlander's Museum due to it being one of the two tourist attractions that has a 5-star rating. The aim was to visit a place with lots of history, however we were also interested in discovering how the museum has achieved such an impressive status. We wanted to know what makes it stand out and what sets it apart from the other attractions in the area but also how it manages to draw in so many visitors. We were also particularly curious about all the different services that the museum offers and how they link into the tourism, hospitality, and events. What we did After a harrowing and frankly quite dramatic journey, we arrived at the Gordon Highlander’s Museum ready to learn about the Gordon Highlander’s and everything that happened to them during the war times. We were led by Dave in a tour around the museum in which he gave us a very insightful and educational look into the museum, the history around all the artefacts and exhibits and Dave added in a personal touch by showing us photos and telling us stories of his family and their experiences in the Gordon Highlander’s. After our extremely informative tour by Dave, we headed to the function room to learn a little bit more about the operational side of running the Gordon Highlander’s Museum. The head of customer experience, Ian, led this portion of the visit by telling us all about how the Gordon Highlander’s Museum is run by quite a large number of volunteers who all have a genuine passion for helping to better the experience. He also told us how he came into the role of head of customer experience and gave us some genuine advice regarding the fact that life can change its paths many times and you can still end up in a job you find fun. The day as a whole was a genuinely fun, unique and educational experience in which we learned so much about the Gordon Highlander’s Museum. What we learned We learned a lot during our time at the Gordon Highlanders Museum. There are many experts and relatives of those who served in the regiment who give up their time for free to volunteer to inform and teach visitors about the history of the regiment. There are researchers who find both general information about the regiment but also look into the history of specific officers or relatives to find out more about their family history, get closure or to feel more connected to those who fought for us. There are also multiple tour guides with varying knowledge and experience so that each visit is unique for the visitor. When we went on our tour we were accompanied by Dave. He had so many stories to tell about his family members and family friends who were part of the regiment and he was so proud to tell us his stories in such a fascinating way which encapsulated us and made our experience a really special one. We were then shown around the function room, gardens and café which are other ways where the museum can gain an income so that it can continue to operate. They can host many different types of events such as dinners, conferences and even small weddings. This diversification is key to the success of the museum and how it is able to continually function as a business which also offers such a unique experience to its visitors. They also offer a very special banquet in the Regimental Dining Room where it can be hired to offer a traditional, regimental dinner experience which shows what these types of events would have looked like back in the day. Overall, we really enjoyed our afternoon at the Gordon Highlanders Museum and would absolutely recommend it to anyone as it is such an amazing experience for all ages. Written by Stage 1 Events Management Students Declan, Jessica and Daisy as part of the Semester 1 Industry Engagement Programme. Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
I know everyone says that January has 39757284 days, but I really feel like this month has flown by and all of a sudden it's February and we're coming to the end of week 2 of semester 2! The blog has been a little quiet over the Christmas and New Year period, but now us lecturers are through the marking and our students are back from their break, we're ready to start sharing all the great things and people that make up our Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management courses. Whether you're joining us for the first time this Semester on Study Abroad, you're returning from studying abroad, you're away on placement or you've been with us since first year - we hope you're looking forward to this new semester and all the opportunities that are going to arise! To our fourth years - enjoy this last semester! We know it's stressful, what with your research projects, but it's going to go by quickly and soon enough you'll be in the big bad world. So make the most of these last few months, and above all, just enjoy it! We still have some updates from last year to share over here, as well as everything we've got lined up this semester, so do keep an eye out for posts on what we're up to and if you have something to share - please get in touch! - The Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management Subject Area Team 😎 As part of the industry activities that our Stage 1 students undertake in Semester 1, we visited NorthLink ferries and were lucky to be taken on a tour of one of their ships by Customer Service Manager, Fiona. Events Management students Daisy, Declan and Jessica reflect on the opportunity. The Aim of the DayWe had an exciting opportunity to visit the NorthLink ferries while it was docked in Aberdeen due to the bad weather conditions. The purpose of the day was to get a tour of one of the main modes of transportation from Aberdeen to Shetland and Orkney, or vice versa as well as getting to find out how crucial this mode of transportation is and how many different people rely not just for travel but for other purposes such as cattle travel. We explored all the different amenities, such as seating options from rooms to pod seating, entertainment such as the cinema room, and hospitality services, and understand how they differ from on-land hospitality services. What We DidWe arrived at the NorthLink Ferry terminal bright and early to collect our visitor passes and head onto the ferry. Once on the ferry we got started on a tour right away and learned all the ins and outs of the ferry, things like what it’s like to work on a ferry, where passengers can go for food, drink, and leisure activities. We got to see the different places where the passengers sleep while on board from the cabins to the pods and we also learned the differences in price for said sleeping options. We got to see the wheelhouse where the captain controls the ferry and we learned how it worked and the captain answered some of our questions which we found really interesting. We then saw the crew’s quarters where they stay when they are on the ferry working which was really interesting and we had to be quiet due to people actually working whilst we were getting our tour. After our tour had finished we headed to the ferry’s restaurant to sit down for a Q&A with the hotel manager which was a good way to learn more about what it’s like to work on a ferry and manage a team as well as the journey to a management role. Overall, it was a really fun and unique day out which taught us a lot of interest things that we hadn't considered before, but we really enjoyed learning all about NorthLink and their ferry services. What We LearnedWe learned many things during our visit to the ferry. We learned about how the company operates the ferries to maintain as much reliability for ferry-users as possible. For some people who live on Orkney and Shetland especially, these ferries are an essential part of their lives and livelihoods so NorthLink must be able to run the ferries whenever they possibly can. This can be a bit trickier in the winter months however as the sea is much rougher than in the warmer months of the year. In fact, we got to learn about what they had to do when they did have to make the difficult decision to cancel journeys near first hand as they had cancelled the service for the day that we visited. They have a great and dedicated team in customer services who ensure that all passengers booked on cancelled ferries are as aware of the cancellation as they possibly can be through the use of an email or SMS message being sent out as well as a phone call. We also learned about what they are able to do when they are in the docks for a longer period of time. The crew are able to give the ferry a more thorough clean and tidy as well as catching up on any jobs that may not be able to be completed when the ferry is out at sea more frequently. As well as this we were also given information about how the ferry operates from Captain Iain Williamson himself, who showed us around the wheelhouse and told us about his experiences on the vessel. Overall, our visit to the ferry was something that all courses enjoyed, and we all thought that we learned something that we might not have otherwise learned whilst on the ferry and we would like to thank all staff and crew for being so friendly during our visit!
|
AuthorsOur blog is updated and maintained by staff and students on our courses. Archives
March 2024
Categories |