Guidelines for Research Award and Competition
The GTTP country Directors select a topic for research, and it changes each year. Each GTTP member country determines how it will organize its national competition, and deadlines for entries vary from country to country depending on school schedules. All questions on entering your national competition should be directed to the GTTP Director in your country.
The winning team in each country is invited to send a teacher and two students to the GTTP International Student Teacher conference in Munich, Germany. Teams meet for four days in November. The GTTP Global Partners provide transportation to Munich, hotel accommodations and meals. Lufthansa provides air tickets for the teams. Teachers and students stay at Le Meridien, a Starwood hotel, in Munich. Participants have an opportunity to meet GTTP Global Partner Advisory Board members, make their presentations at Amadeus’ high tech center, go sightseeing, and meet GTTP students and teachers from around the world.
The topic for 2010 is “Green Tourism: Fact or Fad.” Your research should not focus on the theory of green tourism--it should be an example of green tourism in your own neighborhood or country. You will need to investigate a real situation or potential opportunity. How do you define 'green tourism?" How has green tourism helped your country's tourism industry? What kinds of green tourism opportunities are there? Are there problems with green tourism? You need to look at causes/effects, evidence, community opinion, stakeholder concerns, and other factors you feel are important. The situations will vary enormously from urban to rural. But you need to decide, "What IS green tourism tourism in my country (or city); is it lasting or is it a "fad," and what are the problems or opportunities it presents?"
Your research should answer the "so what?" question. That is, you need to be able to explain why anyone should care about the situation you have researched. Once you have found a situation and researched it, you and your classmates need to draw conclusions, and make recommendations if appropriate. After you go through thinking of a situation, you need to be able to answer, “So what?”
In Munich, the way your team presents its findings is for you to decide. Your team will have as much time as it needs, but usually teams take about an hour to set up their materials (videos, power point, props, music, or whatever they are using), present their research, and answer questions from the other students and teachers. Additionally, each winning team is required to prepare a written case study about their research that can be used by students in GTTP schools.
Planning ahead: the topic for 2011 is "Festivals: Their Importance in Tourism Development."
What Are Case Studies?
Case studies provide information on about real people in real situations. A good case study lets you feel as if you were there, looking at the situation. For example, a case study on Jamaican heritage sites should have enough information and photos that you can understand what the questions are. Then you can figure out what the possible solutions might be if there is a problem, and you can evaluate the student's recommendations. The students who have won the GTTP Research Awards for their countries give you, the reader, an understanding of their unique situations.
The GTTP has prepared a guide to doing research and preparing a case study. To review it, click here: How to Write a Good Case Study. 
Case Topics and Classroom Use
Previous case writing topics have included responsible tourism development, historic preservation, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, community tourism, heritage tourism, sports tourism, and national parks. These are all important topics for tourism students and practitioners.
The case studies can be viewed by visiting our online archive. The complete cases take time to download because most have pictures; they include text for students and teaching notes. You can reprint the cases for classroom use, but you must credit the GTTP, the student authors, their teacher and the school when you do so.
We believe these case studies can enrich your understanding of important tourism topics and how they are viewed in different countries and cultures.
