USC Partnering with USCB and Rawl Murday on Branding Charrettes

Dr. Fang Meng facilitates branding exercise on July 9th, 2013 in Bluffton, SC.

In conjunction with Rawle Murdy, and USC-B our center is conducting research in Bluffton, SC to help them develop and identify their town unique brand/image. The first stage of the research consists of administering 4 Charrettes and conducting over 35 key stakeholder interviews.

USC SmartState Center of Excellence in Tourism and Economic Development well represented at the Travel and Tourism Research Association's annual meeting in Kansas City:

Dr. Cardenas and Dr. Meng traveled to Kansas City, Mo, to attend and present at the Travel and Tourism Research Association's Annual Meeting. The duo was invited to present two papers “Resident Attitudes Toward Future Tourism Development: The Application of Trustworthiness” and “ Tourism Use History: Market Segmentation to Measure Resident Support for Future Tourism Development”.  The data used for both presentations was part of the Aiken-Equine grant our Center received last summer. More on this presentation and the conference can be found at http://www.ttra.com/events/ttra-annual-conference/.

Future Student Exchange Program Slated for Ecuador:

Study in Paradise!

 Dr. Brian Mahalik, Dean of the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, Dr. Rich Harrill, Acting Director and Research Professor, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management and Dr. David Cardenas, Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management in the SmartState Center of Economic Excellence in Tourism and Economic Development, visited Ecuador this summer to lay the future foundation for a student exchange program between the University of South Carolina and Universidad San Francisco de Quito for the students enrolled in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management. The team visited the capital of Ecuador, Quito, that houses the main campus and spent three days exploring the Galapagos and visiting the San Cristobol campus.

For more about this campus and the trip, visit Dr. Harrill's blog here:

http://hrsm-galapagosislands.blogspot.com/

http://hrsm-ecuador.blogspot.com/