JCU takes tourism award

Pearce, Schuntner, Benckendorff

JCU Tourism has played a leading role in the 2007 Queensland Tourism Awards announced at a gala dinner held at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on November 10.

As a major entrant JCU won the Tourism Education and Training category, a creditable achievement ahead of other Queensland universities and private training and industry providers.

JCU Foundation Professor of Tourism, Professor Philip Pearce, right, and tourism lecturer Dr Pierre Benckendorff are pictured lwith the CEO of Townsville Enterprise Glenys Schuntner with the award.

“It has always been a difficult category for JCU to win because many hotels, convention centres and casinos have records in staff training and growth which are difficult to match,” Dr Pierre Benckendorff, who put together JCU’s submission, said.

“The quality of the JCU staff and the outcomes achieved by successful graduates were the key features driving success this year and edging out the competition.”

The influence of JCU at the 2007 Queensland Tourism Awards was a feature of the night.

At the start of the proceedings, JCU Chancellor Lt Gen John Grey accepted the award for the best new tourism development - The Great Tropical Drive.

His leadership of the joint Tourism Tropical North Queensland and Townsville Enterprise cooperative endeavour was a healthy symbol of the University’s involvement in tourism issues across the region.

Many of the individual winners in the region also have a JCU connection.

Billabong Sanctuary and Bangalow Bay Koala Village, both owned by the Flemming family, have had a close working relationship with JCU this year and employ JCU graduates.

The Noorla Heritage Resort in Ingham is owned by a former JCU graduate and the Cairns Coconut Caravan Resort has a JCU graduate as owner/manager.

JCU Tourism researchers have worked with other State winners notably Passions of Paradise and the Quicksilver group of companies.

JCU will now progress with other state winners to the Australian Tourism Awards which will be announced at a national awards night held in Canberra in February.

“The biggest highlight to emerge from these successes is the reinforcement of the view that JCU Tourism offers quality education connected to the interests of the region and enhancing life in the tropics,” Dr Benckendorff said.

“For students contemplating a career in business, tourism, marketing and human resource management, the School of Business at JCU and its tourism offerings are not just courses at the university down the road but degrees at a University with world class achievements.”

The win caps an exciting year for JCU:

• An international ranking of tourism academics published earlier this year by the respected journal Tourism Management ranked the University in equal first place, alongside Texas A&M University.

• JCU is one of two Queensland universities to make the 2007 list of the top 500 Universities in the world according to the respected Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings.

• The University won the Premier of Queensland’s Export Award for Education for the second year in a row.

• Nine JCU academics won Carrick awards.