University joins Institute of Travel and Tourism board – 11 Jan 2007

The Institute of Travel and Tourism has signed a deal with Leeds Metropolitan University to develop research on the travel industry.

As part of the deal the university will join the ITT board and the university’s Professor Rhodri Thomas will become ITT professor.

The idea for the tie-up was first mooted at a Travel Weekly roundtable debate on travel industry higher education attended by Professor Thomas.

ITT chairman Stephen Freudmann claims it will be the first travel industry association to work with a university in this way. The three-year deal will cost “tens of thousands of pounds,” he said.

Freudmann said the industry has never worked closely enough with academic institutions, which has led to it being “lacking in quantifiable research”.

“As an industry we have been very slow to commission new research,” he said.

Thomas, a non-executive director of the Yorkshire Tourist Board who has advised the UK Government and the European Union on tourism policy, said the tie-up should “help to professionalise the UK travel industry”.

“There is a need for greater understanding of the issues facing the industry,” he added.

The ITT is looking for suggestions for the first piece of research, scheduled to be unveiled at its annual conference in Gran Canaria in June.

Ideas being mooted include the profitability of the independent sector, salaries, crisis in travel careers, and the success of the Approved Travel Professional Scheme.

Freudmann said the tie-up does not stipulate a set number of research documents as it depends on the scope of the projects.