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Tourism unit celebrates first five years

15 October 2008

Berwick and Peninsula campus Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Phillip Steele, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Edwina Cornish, Professor Betty Weiler, Deputy Director TRU Professor Peter Forsyth and Research Coordinator TRU Dr Jim Curtis.

Monash University's Tourism Research Unit (TRU) has grown substantially over its five-year history.

The unit, which once included a modest number of tourism researchers from the Faculty of Business and Economics, now includes a group of approximately 35 academics, spanning three faculties, three schools, six departments and four Monash campuses.

With its main strengths in tourism, economic modelling and visitor management research, TRU's external funding has tripled in its lifetime, now exceeding $1.3 million.

"TRU is about people," Director of TRU Professor Betty Weiler said.

"We don't have a lab, we have very little research equipment but we do have great people."

TRU reached an important milestone two years ago when it established a high-level advisory board made up of representatives from national and Commonwealth government bodies, state-based and state-wide organisations including Tourism Tasmania, Tourism Victoria, VECCI and Tourism Alliance, as well as local councils and several tourism operators.

City of Melbourne Tourism Manager Jane Foley said researchers from TRU were well-known for their support of industry through applied research and project identification as well as the encouragement of postgraduate/industry research collaboration.

For more information visit the TRU website.