The prospect to promote cultural understanding, mutual respect and peace via travel and tourism is a monumental opportunity to strengthen dialogue between Turkey and Armenia whose relations have been strained by a number of historical and political issues. Travel and tourism, education and research partnerships between Turkey and Armenia can facilitate the normalization of relations between the two nations. This project proposes collaboration between academic institutions and the private sector in both countries that will train, educate and bring together resources which relate to sustainable regional tourism development for both countries. The purpose of this project is to formulate a Multilateral University Consortium to Strength Tourism Education, Research and Industry Outreach. The partnership is led by the University of Florida U.S. along with Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey, and Armenian State University of Economics, Armenia. The following activities are proposed to accomplish four major objectives: (1) Curriculum Development; (2) Research; (3) Industry Outreach; (4) Capacity Building. The project is funded by the United States Department of State-US Embassy in Turkey. http://turkey.usembassy.gov/university_partnerships_program.html

Given the current influx of visitors as well as development of destinations and attractions in Russia, there has been limited number of institutions that have focused on tourism related curriculum. Overall, capacity building and institutional development in tourism education is a fundamental component for the vitality and sustainability of the industry in Russia. Therefore, the objective of this project is to create a synergistic partnership between the University of Florida (UF) and the State University of Nizhni Novgorod (UNN) to strengthen tourism education, training, research and industry outreach. More specifically, the project will engage in tourism degree curriculum development and pedagogy, faculty and student exchange mobility program, language skills development, experiential education and service learning projects. In addition, to engage in collaborative research initiatives and participate in industry outreach via the proposed Center for Tourism Management at UNN which is likely to be the first university-associated tourism research center. It is expected that this partnership will continue beyond the completion of this project. The project is funded by the United States Department of Education-FIPSE Program: US and Russia. http://www2.ed.gov/programs/fipserussia/index.html

The overall purpose of this project is two-fold: 1) to determine the present condition of the aquatic environment of the Rainbow Springs Aquatic Preserve, and to compare the present condition to that recorded in 1994-1995 (in a previous similar study conducted by UF faculty) using identical methods and 2) to document the effects that various levels of current human activity have on the Rainbow Springs Aquatic Preserve. The specific focus of UF Eric Friedheim Institute faculty will be to determine the type, quantity, and location of aquatic recreational use throughout the year. This information will be matched with a variety of environmental indicators (e.g., water quality, presence of aquatic plants) to document if any substantial environmental deterioration is associated with the various recreational use activities occurring on the river over the course of the year. Results are expected in late summer of 2012. The project is funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.   

While leisure-based friendship has long been recognized as contributing to women’s health and well-being, tourism as leisure is growing in importance for many women. Yet, all women small-group travel has not yet been explored by tourism researchers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the growing phenomenon of female small-group travel, or what the industry calls “girlfriend getaways” and the role of friendship in this type of travel. The first phase of the data  collection was conducted in Canada and the United States via focus groups and individual interviews, resulting in a sample of 77 participants. The second wave of data collection is on-going. The preliminary data analysis reveals a diversity of girlfriend getaways varying in purpose, duration, spatial proximity to home, and travelling companions. Overwhelmingly, the participants emphasized the importance of girlfriend getaways in their lives and highlighted the uniqueness of social dynamics not found in any other type of tourist experience. The overall experiences associated with girlfriend getaways appear to have a therapeutic effect both in maintaining and recharging important relationships and by contributing to women’s sense of well-being and level of sanity. This project is funded by the Bill Sims Faculty Research Grant.

The purpose of this project is to conduct a survey of current visitors to Zambia with respect to demand assessment for the greater Kafue National Park (KNP) area, which is the second largest National Park in the world. Currently, tourism has not reached its potential but is a major tool to promote and strengthen sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in the greater KNP area. This study proposes to examine demand based on current visitors that have visited the KNP area and/or those that have visited other national parks. This study will provide baseline information needed to position the region relative to other regions in the country. The study will also analyze determinants of demand to aid policy makers and the tourism industry to improve the identification of potential new markets and provide and improve the tourism opportunities that play a key role in a tourists choice in their trip selection. Additionally, it will assist in the development of comprehensive marketing strategies to showcase the greater KNP region. The project is managed through U.S. Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service http://www.fas.usda.gov/internatldevelopment.asp with funding from U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation. http://mcc.gov/

Understanding the social legacies of a mega-event necessitates a focus on the residents of a nation. This research has multiple phases with the primary goal of identifying the social legacies (e.g., identity, social capital, and tourism) associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This focus will help to inform local and national level policy to facilitate the nation building goals of South Africa. Data were collected (five host cities) three months prior to the event in mid June 2010, while a follow up will be conducted in Spring 2011. Given the importance of the event for the South African Tourism brand, an additional objective was to evaluate destination and event image perceptions and tourism behaviors of spectators. Data were collected among visitors at all the nine host cities during the World Cup which will provide a major source of information about visitor profiles, market segmentation, perceptions and experiences. This project is conducted in partnership between the University of Florida (UF) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria, South Africa. The project has been largely funded the Office of Research, Innovation and Partnership at TUT http://www.tut.ac.za/Other/RnI/ along with several host cities.

TCMI is working with Research Data Services, Inc (Dr. Walter Klages, Principal) to monitor the perceptions of potential visitors to Florida after the oil spill. Since May 7th, 2010, seventeen days after the oil started leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, Research Data Services, Inc (RDS) has been collecting data on visitor perceptions of the Oil Spill. Two pulses of data have been collected and the third is underway. Results from Pulse One (May 7-17, 2010) suggest that only 18% of potential visitors felt that the oil spill had affected their travel plans, whereas 62.7% said it did not affect their travel plans and 19.3% didn’t know. Pulse two (June 2-11) found that non-visitors almost doubled (33%) in their response to “has the oil spill had affected your vacation choices?," whereas, 51.2% said it didn’t affect their choices and 15.8% noted they didn’t know.

The focus of this research was to investigate the value of the North Sea Jazz Festival and its economic benefits to the Island of Curacao. Based on the research scope, a survey instrument was designed to assess the perceptions of the event attendees with regards to their perceived value of the festival. The analysis revealed that the festival was successful from both a management perspective as well as from a destination perspective. The majority of the attendees noted that their experience exceeded their expectations, and thought that the festival represented value for the money. More than 70% of attendees indicated that they planned to return to the festival (and Curacao) for the event next year. The island procured significant economic benefits from the festival as well as the potential to attract a new market segment of tourists. The total economic benefits amounted to approximately US$ 4,000,000. This study was conducted and completed via a research team with representatives from the University of Central Florida's Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies and the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute at the University of Florida. The project was funded by the Curacao Tourist Board. http://www.curacao.com/

Tourism is a very important industry for the economy of South Africa. Although the country leads the market in Africa, the potential to expand this sector to generate more income, employment and tax revenues are enormous, considering the current level of tourism development. However, tourism growth is dependent on a number of factors, notably, developing a trained and skilled labor force. Capacity building and institutional development through training is a key component for the vitality and sustainability of the tourism industry in South Africa. The purpose of this project is to formulate a partnership between the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, United States and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Tshwane, South Africa to strengthen its teaching, research, service and faculty development initiatives in tourism management. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and administered by Higher Education for Development, Washington, DC. http://www.hedprogram.org/

The purpose of this project is to create a community of practice in southern Africa to collect, organize, create and consolidate Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) curricula and materials in durable formats including published books. Practitioners (e.g. WWF, AWF, IUCN-SASUSG), policy-makers (through AWCF), and CBNRM scholars (Universities of Cape Town, Rhodes, Nelson Mandela, Western Cape, Zimbabwe) will work with Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST), University of Botswana (UB), South African Wildlife College (SAWC) and Sokoine Agricultural University (SAU) (and others) to institutionalize CBNRM training in the form of 1) practitioner /vocational certificates, 2) short courses and modules for private sector and NGOs, 3) undergraduate minors, and 4) in-depth graduate courses and research. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and administered by Higher Education for Development, Washington, DC. http://www.hedprogram.org/

The goal of this project is to obtain current information on the demographic, economic, species targeting information, operator attitudes and business characteristics of the offshore recreational charter and headboat fleets of Florida (Atlantic coast), Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The project will describe the distribution of charter/head boats by type of boat and location; report information on the demographics, economics and business characteristics of charter/head boat operations; estimate the economic impacts of these regions’ charter and head boat recreational fishing related expenditures on the Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina economies and report operators perceptions of problems in their industry and degree of cooperation with relevant agencies. The project is funded by the NOAA Marine Fisheries Initiative program, National Marine Fisheries Service, Washington, DC. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/

The Tourism Crisis Management Institute (TCMI) was established in 2007 to assist the tourism industry in Florida and beyond with respect to comprehensive tourism crisis management initiatives. The Institute is housed within the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management. The mission of the Institute is to develop research-driven solutions to crises that address planning, preparedness, response, and recovery in local, state and national tourism economies. The vision of the Tourism Crisis Management Institute is to be the premiere North American tourism crisis management institute providing innovative, scholarly, and applied research driven service to private and public sectors. Quality research is facilitated through interdisciplinary teams of experts with experience and knowledge in problem solving. The project is funded by the University of Florida. http://www.tourismcrisis.org/