11th TourMIS Users’ Workshop & Monitoring Sustainability

11th TourMIS Users’ Workshop & Monitoring Sustainability: International Seminar on Environmental and Social Tourism Indicators for Measuring Tourism Development

Modul University Vienna was pleased to host two major events on September 10th and 11th, 2015: the 11th TourMIS Users’ Workshop (day 1) and Monitoring Sustainability: International Seminar on Environmental and Social Tourism Indicators for Measuring Tourism Development (day 2). 73 delegates from 21 countries attended this year’s events, the majority of whom represented city and national tourist organisations, as well as international tourism organisations, universities and companies from the hospitality and tourism industry. In addition to the regular workshop attendees we happily welcome every year, there were quite a number of new faces in the audience, eager to learn about TourMIS!

The first day’s workshop provided an introduction and discussion of important TourMIS features, and focused primarily on the topic of knowledge sharing for tourism destinations. The workshop was led by Dr. Karl Wöber, President of Modul University Vienna, and developer of TourMIS, and was further enriched by the contributions of Tünde Mester (Hungarian Tourism Plc.). As such, this workshop was a unique outlet to provide training on how to use TourMIS, and for discussion on possible future steps in developing the system. Moreover, Irem Önder (MODUL University Vienna) gave a presentation on how TourMIS enables users to analyse the success of a destination through benchmarking techniques. Furthermore, she explained how web analytics need to move from a technology driven standardised reporting function towards a business objectivecentred approach, which provides useful information to management. The system she presented is designed to complement, rather than replace, existing web analytics systems in providing useful and industry-specific information which is comparable and provides real insights.

The International Seminar focused on monitoring sustainability and indicating environmental and social tourism indicators for measuring tourism development. The workshops provided practitioners with insights on how to identify indicators in order to to monitor sustainable performances and development. Thus, these presentations focused on projects analysing indicators and stakeholder management to support sustainable tourism development. Stefan Gössling (Lund University) opened the session, discussing the need for change in attitudes towards destination management. Furthermore, he highlighted the need for monitoring the resource use in destinations and focusing on optimisation instead of maximisation. Continuing on this theme, a number of speakers from academia and the industry took the floor: Massimiliano CobaZabetta (Torino University), Silvia Barbone (FEST, London/Brussels), Clemens Költringer (Vienna Tourist Board), Lidija Lalicic (MODUL University Vienna), Frédéric Cornet (VisitBrussels), Bozana Zekan (MODUL University Vienna), Ulf Sonntag (NIT, Germany) and Michel Julian (UNWTO) contributed their own case studies and shared expertise within this research area. Both events were generously sponsored by the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO), and Vienna Tourist Board, which have been supporting this event since the beginning.

If you would like more information about these events, a detailed program, speakers’ information handout, and all presentations are available for download from the following link:

https://www.modul.ac.at/about/departments/tourism-and-service-management/tourmis/