efti kicks off this Fall 2019 seminar series
Focused on academic and professional development of our students and faculty, every semester EFTI hosts a seminar series. Two of our faculty members started this Fall 2019 series in the past weeks.
EFTI IS GROWING ITS INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS! FIVE NEW BOARD MEMBERS JOINED US IN AUGUST
As always, we are grateful for the volunteer participation of industry leaders on our Industry Advisory Board, sharing experiences, providing real research needs, and bringing valuable input and contributions to the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute.
PHD STUDENT HYEJIN PARK WINS “BEST PAPER AWARD” AT CHINA TOURISM FORUM 2019-US
It has been a successful summer for the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute! Hyejin Park (PhD student) was awarded “Best Paper Award” during the China Tourism Forum 2019-US (Temple University, Philadelphia, July 21-22) for a study analyzing the perceptions of destination image focused on South Korea’s KTO (Korea Tourism Organization) efforts toward Chinese travelers.
THREE NEW INDUSTRY ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS JOINED OUR BOARD THIS JULY
The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute is grateful for the volunteer participation of industry leaders on our Industry Advisory Board. These individuals share their experiences and perspectives with our staff, researchers, and students.
TRAVEL AND TOURISM RESEARCH ASSOCIATION 50TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2019
The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute had a great presence on the Travel and Tourism Research Association Annual International Conference which happened in Melbourne between June 25 and June 27, 2019. EFTI was a Bronze level sponsor and was represented by nine researchers.
Final EFTi seminar series Spring 2019: Justin gressel, phd universal orlando resort
On Friday, April 19th the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute hosted its final Seminar Series for the Spring semester, and concluded the year with Justin Gressel, PhD, Channel Analytics Manger for Universal Orlando Resorts. The conversations began with more insight into Universal Orlando Resort’s use of data in management decision making. Here are some photos from the seminar:
2019 ERIC FRIEDHEIM TOURISM INSTITUTE INDUSTRY ADVISORY BOARD ANNUAL SPRING MEETING
On Friday, April 12th the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute had its annual Industry Advisory Board (IAB) meeting with board members in both the Tourism and Events industries from around the United States. Our board was invited to Gainesville, FL to the College of Health and Human Performance and were given a handful of presentations about the programs that EFTI works under and some of the projects our researchers have been apart of over the past year.
ACADEMIC YEAR IN REVIEW: CHECK OUT SOME OF EFTI’S WORK OVER THE PAST YEAR!
Whether it is hosting Universal Parks and Resorts executives to come and speak to our faculty, staff, and students, or taking a trip to Marlins Park, the department of TRSM and EFTI partner to make sure our students and faculty are making the best of their time while at UF. Being able to bring our students into the industry and put them in front of the decision makers is help building up our students to be the thinkers and innovators in the future. Below are some videos on some of the amazing trips and seminars EFTI has partaken in the academic year!
DOCTORAL STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Larissa Neuburger And her innovations within e-tourism (Augmented/Virtual reality)
EFTI is always looking ahead to our future innovators, decision makers, and researchers in tourism. One of our many incredible students, Larissa Neuburger is 2nd Year PhD student in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sports Management at the University of Florida. Larissa is originally from Salzburg, Austria - home of the famous musical drama film “The Sound of Music. Before finally coming to the United States and UF to begin her PhD, Larissa worked as a Marketing Manager for a publishing house in Vienna, Austria where she managed all marketing activities for their B2B events.
YANG YANG, PHD: TOURIST BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS USING ONLINE REVIEW DATA
Dr. Yang is currently an assistant professor of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University. He received his Ph.D. in Geography, Master of Statistics, and M.A in Economics from University of Florida, as well as an M.Phil in Hotel and Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Yang’s major research interests lie in tourism demand analysis, big data analytics, as well as hotel financial and real estate analysis.
TRSM STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS: Fiji, new zealand, and australia!
This summer, the Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Sport Management is offering students the option to study abroad in a variety of international locations in the South Pacific. These study abroad programs are being put on by AUIP (American Universities International Programs Limited) where students have the opportunity to study a wide range of topics within ecotourism, resource conservation, and cultural studies.
Tourism, Hospitality, and event management students visit Disney’s yellow shoes creative agency
The Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Sport Management was invited to take place in a networking opportunity and site visit of the Yellow Shoes Creative Group, the in-house ad agency for the Walt Disney World Company in Celebration, Florida. This award winning agency houses a wide range of writers, artists, and creatives who are campaign designers for all of Walt Disney World Companies brands, i.e. Disney Parks, Resorts, Disney Cruise Lines, etc.
Tourist Tax Elasticity in Florida: Spatial Effects of County-Level Room Tax Rate Variation with brian mills
Brian Mills, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management at the University of Florida. His research interests encompass topics such as the sports labor market, industrial organization and sports league policy (demand, competitive balance, revenue sharing, etc.), public policy and economic development related to sport, and advanced analytics in the sports business. He is especially interested in applying economic lessons and quantitative analysis to problems that sport managers face in their everyday decision making.
Dr. Jin-Won Kim: Spatial Analysis of Hotel Room Pricing and GPS-Based mobile EXERCISE app
Jin-Won Kim, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management at the University of Florida, USA. The overall goal of his research is to identify the role of tourism, recreation and parks in the creation of active, vibrant, sustainable and resilient communities. In one of his more recent projects, Dr. Jin-Won Kim looked at the spatial variations among hotel room price as well as hotel attributes. One of the other projects Dr. Kim has been hard at work with is his cutting edge research being done with a GPS-Based Mobile Exercise Application.
DOCTORAL STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: DANIELLE BARBE and her work with social media and crisis communications
EFTI is always looking to the ahead for our future innovators, decision makers, and researchers in Tourism. One of our many outstanding students, Danielle Barbe is a doctoral student in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sports Management at the University of Florida (UF). Danielle’s research is focused more on present-day trends, where she looks at the strategies and risk perceptions behind social media influence and crisis communication in terms of travel influence.
DR. ANDREI KIRILENKO: NEGOTIATION OF THE SUMMARY FOR POLICY MAKERS OF THE 6TH GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK
We are so excited to welcome back one of TRSM professors, Dr. Andrei Kirilenko as he just returned from serving as the Global Environment Outlook Author/Expert of Climate for the United Nations Environment Programme. “The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a consultative and participatory process to prepare an independent assessment of the state of the environment, the effectiveness of the policy response to address these environmental challenges and the possible pathways to be achieve various internationally agreed environmental goals“ (GEO, UNEP website).
DR. LORI PENNINGTON-GRAY TALKS DESTINATION RESILIENCE - SETTING THE PRECEDENT
Over the past year, Professor Lori Pennington-Gray has published a number of articles in the realm of destination resilience as well as crisis communication and management. This type of research has arisen from the increased frequency and intensity of threats to the tourism industry; whether terrorism, natural disasters, or even health and wellness (diseases).
UF Warrington College of Business “Big Idea” Competition takes on a TRSM PhD Student!
One of our PhD students, Pamela Montero-Alvarez has been selected to take part in a semester long business development program with the UF Warrington College of Business. This program was created to assist students with entrepreneurial ideas by teaching those selected to partake how to properly build a business plan and what steps they need to take for the future.
GIRLFRIEND GETAWAYS AND THE FUTURE OF THE SOLO WOMAN TRAVELER
Here at EFTI, we are working with the state of Florida in a number of different ways to push tourism and development progress. One of our EFTI Faculty Members, Dr. Heather Gibson spoke at Visit Tampa Bay’s 4th Annual Marketing Summit on behalf of the institute and gave a presentation on “Girlfriend Getaways” and really hammered on the importance. Dr. Gibson then gave the group some ideas on how to market to the niche segment.
EFTI STUDENTS RECOGNIZED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ACHIEVEMENT!
EFTI is very happy to announce that two of our PhD candidates, Hongping Zhang and Yuhua Xu were recognized within the University of Florida International Center (UFIC) with a Certification of Outstanding Merit. Both Hongping and Yuhua we’re recognized for their work for the College of Health an Human Performance, specifically within the department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism.
