Pergamon

Reports

Tourism Management, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 243-244, 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain

0261-5177/97 $17.00+0.00

1st International Yield Management Conference 'Strategies for Revenue Optimisation' 5-6 September, Walton Hall, Warwickshire, UK

Over ninety people met at Walton Hall set in the picturesque English midlands to learn and discuss more about 'the tool that gets you there'. The conference was co-sponsored by the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Arts; Napier University Edinburgh and the Northern Territory University, Australia. A pleasing and productive aspect was that over half the attendees were practitioners. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the conference were when academic solutions and practical applications came together such as in excellent presentations by Breffni Noone from Dublin Institute (Enhancing Yield Management with customer profitability analysis), and Donaghy/McMahon-Beatte/McDowell (University of Ulster) (The impact of Yield Management upon the Hotel Manager).

Yield management (YM) still tends to be shrouded in mystery, and its imple- mentation is a threat to many employees. This could be because YM is perceived as a complex and expen- sive process, which requires a com- puter to process data, and that its implementation might lead to organ- isational change. Several papers dis- cussed implementation issues and ways to ease its path into the manage- ment culture of the hotel.

Some papers also showed the con- tinuing tendency for room prices to be set not by a strict financial model, but a mixture of driven market forces. (Halcrow, K., 'An investigation into room price discounting' and Peters S. and Reilly J., 'Development in Yield Management at the Hilton National, Warwick').

There was also discussion, both in the formal and informal arena, of whether YM was just a tool to aid decision making or was it actually a process which could replace some more traditional approaches to management of the hospitality enter-

prise. Whatever the outcome of that debate, the conference certainly emphasised the holistic effect of a good YM system on the hotel, and the strategic role of the Rooms Division

in determining the client mix and profitability.

Conferences totally focussed on hospitality issues are relatively rare, it was refreshing and enlightening to be part of the examination and discussion of a small but vital section of the business of hospitality, and to witness the evolution of YM from tactic to strategy.

Paul Reynolds Associate Professor Hospitality

Management School of Tourism and Hospitality

Management Southern Cross University Coifs Harbour, NSW 2457

Australia

Pacific Rim tourism

The Centre for Tourism Studies Waiariki Polytechnic hosted a conference 'Pacific Rim Tourism 2000 - - issues, interrelationships, inhibitors' from 3-6 November (1996), in their home city, Rotorua, New Zealand. The conference brought together 100 researchers and academics from 15 countries, including some significant keynote speakers. The conference was convened by Dr Martin Oppermann of Waiariki Polytechnic's, Centre for Tourism. David Simmons reports on the conference.

Much tourism development around the Pacific Rim is premised on notions of eco-tourism. It was fitting, therefore, that Professor Dick Butler provided the conference keynote paper in which he examined the history and evolution of this concept. Since the term was first coined in the

early 1980s definitions have become more elaborate and complex. From an early focus on nature oriented activi- ties, more recent definitions have been broadened to include elements of economic (particularly local com- munity) return, the presence of an educational element, and most

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