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. Teams meet for four days in November. The GTTP Global Partners sponsor the students and teachers. Lufthansa provides air tickets for the teams. Starwood provides hotel rooms. Participants have an opportunity to meet GTTP Global Partner Advisory Board members, visit Amadeus’ high tech center in Sofia Antipolis, go sightseeing, and meet GTTP students and teachers from around the world.
The topic for 2012 is "Innovation in Tourism."
You will need to identify and then examine what is/was the most interesting recent innovation in the Travel & Tourism Industry your country or region or city. You should also discuss what innovations you want to see in the future, and why. The word “Innovation” has several definitions. Generally it means something new that adds value. Here are two definitions posted by the Journal of Innovation at http://www.innovation.cc/discussion-papers/definition.htm
"My definition of innovation: The Ability to Deliver New Value to a Customer. After all, it is not innovation until the customer says it is. While most of us have traditionally associated innovation with technology advance, in a free market innovation can be as simple as a new way of doing things or a new way to create customer satisfaction." (Jose Campos)
Keep in mind that for travel & tourism to be successful, there have to be satisfied customers. So, when you are thinking about innovation, remember the customer’s point of view.
Innovation comes in many shapes and sizes. In Russia tourists can travel into space and stay in the International Space Station. In Kenya, a village campground operator is offering lessons in how to cook traditional food.
The reason for mentioning space travel and cooking lessons is to make a point: innovation really does come in all shapes and sizes. What is needed in your country may be very different from what is needed in another country. You can research a recent innovation or you can figure out what innovations could be created that would improve tourism in your county.
Some innovations are developed to meet changing preferences: in China, more and more ordinary Chinese citizens are using vacation and holiday time to explore their country. Hotel operators are meeting the needs of those new travelers by building “budget” hotels.
The idea of building a terminal to handle cruise ships is hardly an innovation in the cruise ship industry. But it is a huge innovation if you live in little Falmouth, Jamaica, population 8,000 and the terminal can handle the biggest cruise ships in the world, two at a time. That means two ships can between them bring in more passengers than the town has people.
Innovation does not have to be huge to have an impact. In 2011 Student Research Study winners in Sarvar, Hungary, population 14,000, reported on how a small group of volunteers created a festival that revolved around the town’s history.
Back again to cooking lessons in Africa. Many communities in Africa rely on their spectacular wildlife to attract visitors. That is not a new story. But communities also are coming up with new ideas to attract visitors. People – all women --- in the Kenyan community of Nakuru, who operate a campground, also offer lessons on how to cook traditional food. Some of the profits go to pay for village projects.
In Brazil groups of communities are linking some of their resources to create “tourist circuits.” That is, creating a destination of four to seven communities that have something in common. For example, the “Montiquiera Circuit” is in an area that offers opportunities for adventure tourism. There is a “Faith Circuit” centered on pilgrimages to religious sites.
Here are some more examples of innovation in tourism: the concept of an all-inclusive resort; asking guests if they want to conserve water by not having their towels or their sheets changed every day; comment cards in hotels and restaurants; off-peak pricing for travel; branding different style hotels owned by the same company to reflect different ages and tastes; guided tours in museums using headphones and not a person.
And remember how technological innovations can improve the visitor’s travel experience. The Internet offers tools we can use to deliver information to potential visitors, help them plan their trips, make their reservations, and make their stay more enjoyable.
The questions for you to consider researching include: is there a recent innovation that meets the needs of the visitor? Does it serve the needs of the community hosting the visitor? And do not forget: visitors may be coming for business, or for a vacation, or for some other purpose, such as better health. You should also ask if the innovation you are examining is successful. How do you define success? What could be done to improve the innovation? What are the benefits to the community from the innovation? What problems does the innovation create?
What if you don’t find recent innovations? Can you think of some innovations that are needed? Be creative!
Then there is 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 Monaco, 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.
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
In addition to festival tourism, 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.
