Tourism students clean up
After a team from HTW Chur won the award in 2016, this year sees a repeat performance. As in the previous year, a team of tourism students from the University of Applied Sciences in Graubünden once again beat off the competition to win the coveted prize. Désirée Messmer (Laupen ZH), Fabienne Gut (Zurich) and Fabienne Meyer (Gossau SG) took first place in the "Meet The Future Award 2017" (MTFA), which is organized by the industry association of the Event Management Circle (EMC) is awarded annually. The MTFA provides the winning team with an outstanding track record for future work in the event industry. The students from the Event Communication specialization of the Bachelor's degree in Tourism make their supervising lecturer, Dr. Alexander Schmidt, particularly proud: second place also went to a team of female tourism students from Graubünden University of Applied Sciences with Anina Hess (Sargans), Sarah Bolter (Buchs SG) and Monique Schuler (Wangen SZ).
Opening of a Hyatt hotel as a flightThe task for the award was to develop and present a concept for the opening of the new Hyatt Hotels and the associated event cathedral as part of the Circle project for two different events over two days. Both events were to be aimed at different target groups. After a two-week preparation period, the finalist teams each had 20 minutes to present their conference concept to a jury of six experts at the event at the Seedamm Plaza in Pfäffikon, followed by a five-minute question and answer session. The students not only had to convince the panel of experts, but also a specialist audience from the conference and event industry.
The winning team focused their concept on creating an experience with a clear storyline. The two opening days for the Hyatt Hotel were designed like a flight to convey the feeling of travel and anticipation. The invitation was designed as a boarding pass and the three winners acted as flight attendants throughout the two days. "It was an extraordinary experience to present our own event concept in front of 110 event professionals and to convince and entertain this critical audience," said the newly crowned winners, adding that the second-placed team designed the first day as a futuristic-style experience with the approach of a free tour of the new hotel with ten different information stations. These were supervised directly by the Hyatt sales staff. On the second day, the event cathedral was ceremoniously opened with invited VIP guests under the motto "Spread the Sparkle". What the runners-up learned: "Realistic ideas sometimes seem less convincing than extravagant concepts."
Practice-oriented tourism studies at the Grisons University of Applied Sciences"We are very proud of our students. Their great commitment has paid off, they have really achieved great things. The good mix of theory and practice in the Bachelor's degree course in Tourism prepares our graduates perfectly for a successful career in the tourism and leisure industry," says Prof. Dr. Andreas Deuber, Head of the Institute of Tourism and Leisure (ITF) at HTW Chur.
The Bachelor's degree program in Tourism prepares students for responsible specialist and management positions in tourism and the leisure industry. The course is offered in German/English or in English only. The following specializations are available: Event Communication, eCommerce and Sales in Tourism, Marketing and Product Management in Tourism, Sports Management, Transportation Management, Leadership and Sustainable Tourism and International Development. The latter will be offered for the first time from fall 2017 and trains students in the topics of sustainable tourism and development cooperation. Service Design, a part-time degree course in tourism, will also be offered from fall 2017.
