The inaugural EIAT conference was held at the Congress Hall Master in Novi Sad, Serbia on September 26 and 27.
The brainchild of former University of Westminster masters student Milan Culic, this was a truly international event, with 10 nationalities represented by speakers and delegates.
The conference united travel and tourism industry employers, academics and students for the first time to address the country’s key issues of retaining its best young talent and fully engaging industry with higher education.
Over the past decade, Serbia has lost nearly 400,000 young people to other countries in Europe and North America.
Culic’s vision is to ensure that travel and tourism and hotel management graduates stay in or are attracted back to Serbia to develop its industry and tourism infrastructure.
There’s no shortage of talent when speaking with the articulate and motivated cream of the crop who attended the conference together with their lecturers, deans, vice-deans, industry stakeholders and local and national government representatives.
L-R: Robert Maitland, Director, Centre for Tourism, University of Westminster;
John Humphreys, leader for the Diploma Development Partnership, People 1st;
Rob Davidson, Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism, University of Westminster
Professors Robert Maitland and Rob Davidson of Westminster University played key roles in the organisation and running of the conference.
Davidson really set the tone of the conference with a truly inspiring speech at the official opening, which set young people at the heart of the process.
I made the opening presentation, with an outline of the ways in which People1st is leading the development of the managers of tomorrow, through improving retention, training and skills development.
I went on to point out the importance of collaboration with industry through the Diploma development blueprint, and reported on the outcomes of the two tourism industry and academic conferences held in 2008.
Throughout the conference there was a focus on the vital importance internships play in attracting the best talent, and the importance of ensuring young people have the best possible experience across a broad range of departments with a ‘hands-on’ approach.
The two-day conference continued with input from subject and industry specialists from South Africa, Slovenia, Montenegro, Turkey, France, Canada and the Netherlands.
Further UK input came from Paul Gauger, PR and communications manager at VisitBritain’s New York bureau, who spoke about the power of media and PR in developing a destination brand.
Over 200 delegates attended over the two days, and the conference is scheduled to run again next September 2009, this time in Belgrade.
For more information see www.eiat-conference.org