Features
Korean Partnership Raises HTM Profile
Tourism experts to collaborate on research, exchanges
BY REBECCA KENDALL
Patience and willingness to recognize a good opportunity when it presents itself have resulted in a new partnership with Korean tourism experts for Profs. Chris Choi, Marion Joppe and Statia Elliot, Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM).
Over the past five years, the Guelph group has been developing a relationship with researchers Jaeho Song and Kim Hyangja of the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute, largely due to Choi’s Korean background and language skills.
Their commitment has resulted in a memorandum of understanding, signed in 2008, that has paved the way for collaborative research, involvement in Korean conferences and new research funding.
“We often talk about it taking a long time to make relationships with Asia, but once you have the patience, then it really starts to pay off,” says Joppe, who holds a University Research Chair in Tourism.
In June, she co-chaired a conference with Song on Korea’s Jeju Island. The event drew 20 international experts and academic presenters and an estimated 700 Korean delegates. It also resulted in a declaration on creativity in tourism, which garnered much media attention throughout Asia, she says.
“We Googled it 30 minutes after the conference had ended, and already there were more than 40 stories, some including video, being posted by various media agencies.”
Song has also sought the expertise of Joppe, Choi and Elliot to produce a study on climate change and how it affects island tourism. The study will compare conditions on Jeju Island, a volcanic island that is home to some 255,000 people, with those of Vancouver Island, one of the most popular destination sites for international tourists visiting Canada’s West Coast.
Jeju Island, which was declared a world natural heritage site in 2007, has experienced a 22-centimetre rise in sea level over the past 40 years, resulting in much beachfront and shore loss, says Choi. Like Jeju, Vancouver Island is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, leading the researchers to question its future.
“Researchers and government are needed,” says Joppe. “Until you understand how a sector is going to be affected by the change, you can’t really start thinking about mitigating strategies. This is our challenge.”
The Guelph researchers are receiving support for their work through the Canadian Embassy in Seoul, Korea, and the International Council for Canadian Studies.
“When it comes to hospitality and tourism management, it’s almost impossible to get money out of our own funding agencies,” says Joppe. “They’ll fund tourism research when it comes out of social sciences such as geography and sociology, but not when it comes out of a management program. It’s like that right across the country, so we always have to look for alternative sources of money. At the end of the day, research gets driven by funding. You can only do so much with a shoestring budget.”
The relationship between the Guelph researchers and the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute has raised international awareness of HTM and U of G, says Choi, who notes that Koreans are often hesitant to work with international partners because of language barriers and unfamiliarity with western customs.
“When I lived in Korea, I had never heard of U of G. Now, Koreans are learning about our expertise and the quality of our programs.”
Joppe says the new partnership will benefit both and is expected to open doors to leverage increased funding because of the international and cross-cultural collaborations. It will also offer opportunities for Korean guest lecturers and visiting professors to come to Guelph. So far, the school has hosted four scholars. who all stayed for at least a year.