United Nations World Tourism Organization – Ulysses Awards and Conference
Monday 23 June 2008
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) brings together about 100 of the top centres for tourism education world wide, all accredited by the UNWTO. The University of Surrey currently holds the chair of the Education and Science Council of and in this capacity, three members of the Faculty of Management and Law, Professors David Airey and John Tribe and Dr Graham Miller, were recently in Madrid, seat of UNWTO headquarters for the 14th annual meeting of the Council and for the UNWTO’s Ulysses award ceremony and conference.
At the meeting chaired by the representatives from Surrey, a full programme of work was drawn up for the coming two years covering innovation in tourism education, contributing to the UNWTO goals in relation to poverty alleviation and climate change, and developing an international curriculum. As a part of this agenda, the Ulysses conference, which was organised and led by the Surrey team was held under the title Education and Knowledge Management: Meeting Future Challenges. This focused on climate change and innovation in tourism education and included presentations by the UNWTO Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General, Geoffrey Lipman and by Professor Andrew Holden from the University of Bedfordshire. Participants came from across the world
The Ulysses Awards were introduced 6 years ago by UNWTO to recognise achievement and contribution to tourism, with the Ulysses Prize itself being awarded for Academic Excellence. This year the prize went to Professor Pauline Sheldon of the University of Hawaii with other awards going to companies and government agencies from six different countries for innovation in tourism. As Chair of the Council and former prize winner Professor Airey introduced Professor Sheldon at the ceremony which was presided over by the Secretary General of the UNWTO and held at the Museo Cerralbo in Madrid. Afterwards Professor Tribe acted as master of ceremonies at the awards dinner, presenting the candidates for the awards for innovation in tourism.
Commenting on the event Professor Airey drew attention to the unique position of the UNWTO among UN bodies in admitting nongovernmental organisations, including universities, into affiliate membership. This allowed education providers like the University of Surrey, through the Education and Science Council to have an influence at the highest level worldwide. It also brought together industry, education and government representatives to celebrate achievement.
The full list of prize winners were:
- UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Academic Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Tourism
- Prof. Pauline Sheldon, University of Hawaii (USA)
- UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance
- First Prize Programme Tourism Governance in Valencia Tourism Valencia Convention Bureau (Spain)
- Special Jury Prize Programme The Scholastic Program for Tourism Education
- General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (Saudi Arabia)
- UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Tourism Enterprises
- First Prize Programme Intelligent Leisure Solutions and Discover Travel Group
- Intelligent Leisure Solutions and Discover Travel Group (Brazil)
- Special Jury Prize Programme Culinary Heritage Exchange for Tourism Development
- JSC Gero Serviso Garantija, Restaurant Verkiai (Lithuania)
- UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations
- First Prize Programme Sustainable Management Model for Tourism Destinations
- Business Foundation European Community - Chile - Eurochile (Chile)
- Special Jury Prize Programme Official Classification Programme for Tourist Accommodation in Quebec
- Québec Tourism Industry Corporation (Canada)
