COOPERATION BETWEEN ESTONIAN TOURIST BOARD, GOVERNMENT, ENTREPRENEURS AND PÄRNU COLLEGE Heli Tooman, PhD Pärnu College of the University of Tartu Head

COOPERATION BETWEEN ESTONIAN TOURIST BOARD,

GOVERNMENT, ENTREPRENEURS AND PÄRNU COLLEGE

Heli Tooman, PhDPärnu College of the University of TartuHead of the Tourism and Hotel Management Division6 Sep 2005

H. Tooman EUTO Conference 4.-11 Sep, Estonia

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University of Tartu

1632 Academia GustavianaAcademia Pernaviensis 1699-1710


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Pärnu Collegeof the University of Tartu

1996


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Colleges of the University of Tartu


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1699-1710 Academia Pernaviensis 1991 Foundation of Pärnu Business School 1996 Foundation of Pärnu College of the

University of Tartu (60 students) 1999 Opening of the new building of the

college 2001 Opening of the library 2005 Number of students about 1000

History of university in Pärnu


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Number of students

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Full time students Open university students


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Study lines Professional higher education (Tartu

University diploma) Tourism and Hotel Management Social Work and Administration Business Administration Fisheries and Management

of Water Bodies Economics and Business

Administration (bachelor’s programme) Tourism Geography (master’s programme)


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Tourism studies(professional higher education) Curriculum 120 Credit Points (CP) Specialisation

Hotel and Restaurant Management Travel and Tourism Management Destination Management Resort Management

Professional placement (24 CP)


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Some common efforts to bring tourism stakeholders together...

Visitors’ satisfaction research (Kihnu Island) Tourism development plan of the Pandivere

cooperation region Tourism routes and road signs of Pärnu County Training courses for tourism stakeholders of

Läänemaa (Haapsalu, Saaremaa, Hiiumaa): How to prepare a tourism development plan

KUTUR – spa-, culture and tourism development project

Estonian tourism product development plan


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Example of successful cooperation Recreation and Tourism Development

Plan of Pärnu County (Pärnu College, 2005) Preparation, development and evaluation

phases: discussions and fora with the Pärnu County Government, Pärnu Town Government, local authorities, entrepreneurs

Results: better and common understanding, broader view on tourism, creating (we really hope so) the wish to work together

But – a plan is just a plan – we need a body!


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Research and Development 2003 foundation of the Baltic Centre of

Tourism Research and Training Main activities of the centre:

Projects (leading and participation, cooperation with the college academic staff, Estonian Tourist Board (Enterprise Estonia Tourism Development Centre), government, tourism organisations, local authories, business community, foreign partners, etc)

Tourism research and training (development of public awareness of tourism as a complex system)


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Projects (finished with good results)

Via Baltica Nordica Development in Estonia (2003-2004). Partners: Rapla County Government, Harju County Government, Pärnu County Government, Tallinn Town Government, Märjamaa Rural Municipality,Estonian Tourist Board, Pärnu College, Regional Council of Häme (Finland)

Enhancement of tourism education (2003-2004, 6 partner schools)

Network of tourism education and a system of tourism teacher training in Estonia (2004-2005, 6 partner schools)


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More projects Dilaport (Digital Language Portfolio as a Survival Kit) Spa and Wellness Service Languages – SPAWELLAN Quality Enhancement in Tourism Studies through

International Networking VOCMAT (Vocational Training for the European Tourism

Industry) North Livonian Coastal Region Initiative for Cross-Border

Socio-Economic Development Via Baltica Nordica Tourism Clustering Enhancement of tourism education by employing a foreign

professor of tourism Training of the trainers/consultants – tourism quality

management (Pärnu College, Estonian Quality Association, Estonian Tourist Board)


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Community participation in tourism planning and development

Every tourism destination and major development has a political, community, and business history

The final form of a tourism product is a statement of the power and the degree of cooperation between interacting parties


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Four prerequisites for participation and cooperation

Legal right and opportunity to participate Access to information Provision of sufficient resources for people

or groups to be involved Genuinely public, that is broad rather

than selective involvement of various communities and organisations


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What are participation and cooperation like?

No participation Pseudo participation Partial participation Full participation - it is defined as a

process where each individual member or group of a decision-making body has equal powers to determine the outcome of decisions


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With whom to cooperate?

This is the question of knowledge and understanding. Tourism is not merely the business of tourism firms!

In fact - everybody is one way or another a tourism stakeholder and participant. Cooperation in tourism is a very complicated phenomenon and means the wish and opportunities of full or partial participation of very different types of businesses, organisations, government, local authorities, media, educational and research institutions, people, etc.


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Regional and political aspects of a local institution of higher education

Moral obligation to be more than just an educational institution. These aspects should be underlined: Application of the academic potential to carry

out tourism research of local, national and international importance

To disseminate (and to generate) knowledge about contemporary tourism and to support Estonian tourism develpoment

Immediate participation of our lecturers and students in the life of the community


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Tourism networks A network can be defined as a set of

relationship between individuals acting in an organisational and/or private capacity to achieve a particular purpose

Such networks may be of three types: formal, semi-formal and in formal (Lynch, 2000)


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Benefits of cooperation networks to building profitable tourism destinations 1

Learning and exchange: Knowledge transfer Tourism education process Communication Develoment of new cultural values Accelerating of implementation of

support initiatives Facilitation of develoment stage of

small enterprises


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Benefits of cooperation networks to building profitable tourism destinations 2 Business activity:

Co-operative activities (marketing, staff development, policies)

Increased entrepreneurial activity Enhanced product quality and visitor

experience Increased visitor number, extension of visitor

season, more repeat business Best use of small enterprise and support

agency resourses Inter-trading within network


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Benefits of cooperation networks to building profitable tourism destinations 3

Community: Fostering common purpose and focus Community support for destination

develoment Increase or reinvents a sense of

community Engagement of small enterprises in

destination development More income staying locally


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In conclusion

Recent developments have shown that cooperation between various tourism stakehbolders has been improving, but more efforts should be made to replace absence of cooperation, or pseudo participation, by full participation of all members of the community


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Thank you!

I wish you successful discussions and a very pleasant stay in the Estonian summer capital of Pärnu.


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Question

The process of preparation of the new national tourism development plan has been started:

Which measures concerning the development of cooperation networks and enhancement of general awareness of the necessity of cooperation should be included in the national tourism development plan?

Documents

COOPERATION BETWEEN ESTONIAN TOURIST BOARD, GOVERNMENT, ENTREPRENEURS AND PÄRNU COLLEGE Heli Tooman, PhD Pärnu College of the University of Tartu Head