In January 2016, I will be setting sail around the world as part of the faculty for Semester at Sea, a shipboard campus that has a mission to ‘integrate multiple-country study, interdisciplinary coursework, and hands-on field experiences for meaningful engagement in the global community.’ I was lucky enough to teach on a Semester at Sea voyage back in 2006, and it’s an old cliché but it really was a life-changing experience. You can join me next year as a student or a ‘life-long learner’ as we visit 10 different countries including Japan, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, India and South Africa. For more information, go to: http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2016/

Hats off to another bright young intern, Alex Sizemore

On July 17th, 2015, Alex Sizemore, rising senior at the SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, presented a research poster titled “African American Tourism Patterns and Marketing Ethnically Focused Tourism in South Carolina.” Alex spent this summer conducting research on current trends and patterns within the African American tourism sector and identifying appropriate research methods to further explore the sector for the purposes of promoting quality of experiences while optimizing the economic impact. Alex’s research will contribute to the research base for an upcoming project schedule to launch in the fall of 2015, that shares the same focus. Great job, Alex!

Is South Carolina Retirement Friendly? New award hopes to find out.

Is South Carolina retirement friendly? The Center has been awarded a grant by the Economic Development Administration to explore that question and take it a step further by providing recommendations to strengthen South Carolina's brand as a competitive retirement destination. The results of this project will lead to a marketing plan to help rural counties state wide to better strategize and position themselves to utilize their resources effectively to attract migrating retirees. This year long project is scheduled to begin in August 2015.

New study finds social media engagement leads to strong brands

A new piece of research, conducted by Simon Hudson and three researchers from the Moore School of Business, has found strong support for the use of social media in strengthening relationships between consumers and brands. The paper, just accepted for publication in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, describes how the authors conducted three studies to explore how individual and national differences influence the relationship between social media use and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engage with their favorite brands via social media with those who do not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism perceptions (the extent to which consumers’ associate human characteristics with brands). Two subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences, specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. The results offer cross-national support for the proposition that engaging customers via social media is associated with higher consumer-brand relationships and word of mouth communications particularly when consumers anthropomorphize the brand they engage with. The paper will appear early next year in special issue of the journal called ‘Branding in a Digitally Empowering World’.

Accessible Hotels, Nordic-style

A new article written by Simon Hudson in Hotel Business Review discusses the growing market for accessible tourism and the opportunity it represents for the hotel sector. The article focuses on one hotel chain in particular – Scandic - that has positioned itself as a world leader in accommodating visitors with disabilities. With 230 hotels spread across Europe, Scandic is the Nordic region’s leading hotel chain. The policies dedicated to accessibility were initiated by Magnus Berglund, pictured above, who was originally a cook with the hotel group. Due to a muscle disease, Berglund was on sick leave for five years. When he was able to start work again, he contacted his former employer with his ideas on how the hotel chain could increase accessibility and use it to gain competitive advantage. In 2003, Berglund, who walks with the help of a special cane and travels with a rehab dog, was appointed Accessibility Director for Scandic, reporting directly to the Group Executive Committee. “Guests with special needs are a growing market due to the population getting older,” says Berglund. “This will continue as disabilities are no longer seen as a hindrance that stops people from traveling. At Scandic we work hard to make all our hotels more accessible. It is not always about investing in the building – many times it is the smallest things that make a difference.” The full articles can be found at: http://hotelexecutive.com/business_review/4410/accessible-hotels-nordic-style

Night train to Lisbon

Simon Hudson was in Lisbon last week speaking to students at the Universidade Europeia about film tourism, and how movies – such as Night Train to Lisbon, starring Jeremy Irons – can have a very positive influence on a destination’s image. Dr. Hudson’s lecture was part of a day-long seminar organized by the university for the Tourism Management PhD program. Other speakers included Miguel Moital from Bournemouth University, Alan Fyall from University of central Florida, and Carlos Costa, Universidade de Aveiro.

World's Best Golf Clubhouses

Our research center in South Carolina signed a memorandum of understanding recently with Universidade Europeia in Portugal, with the intention of collaborating on various industry-related projects. One thing the two regions have in common is the critical importance of golf to the tourism industry, so I was particularly pleased to see both are represented in Golf Inc. Magazine’s ‘Clubhouse of the Year’ for 2014-2015. Congratulations to Plantation Golf Club at Sea Pines Resort Hilton Head for taking top spot, but I was fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of Portugal’s third-place winner Espiche Golf Club this week, so I thought I would drop in and chat to owner Peter Thornton and General Manager Luis Rocha to find out what it takes to be on this prestigious list of winners. Espiche Golf is located in an Ecological Reserve just outside Lagos in the Western Algarve and includes an 18-hole course that opened in 2012 and a stunning new clubhouse. Occupying the highest point of the Espiche property, surrounded on all sides by the golf course, the clubhouse is built into the hillside on the site of an old farmhouse, and is beautifully and sensitively integrated into the existing landscape. Stone from the original building has been used in the lower walls of the outer structure to maintain the sense of history, and solar panels, hidden within the roof design, ensure a state of the art approach to sustainability. Architect Nadine Berger’s unique and striking design provides 360 degree views from terraces and lounges on two levels, an informal restaurant and bar area, separate lounge, a relaxing inner patio garden, changing rooms, a golf shop and reception area. I will be writing more about Espiche for my new tourism marketing book, but you will see from the photos, this is a unique and special attraction! More at http://www.espiche-golf.com