Media Release December 7 2004

WORLD’S BEST TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATORS PRESENT EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN QUEENSTOWN

Tourism and hospitality professors and consultants internationally recognised as among the best in the world will be in Queenstown next year in a New Zealand education first.

Professional facilitators from the United States, France, and the UK will be in New Zealand from June to November to present courses at the new Queenstown Resort College (QRC).

The educators will present the 2005 Executive Education Series for leaders and emerging leaders in tourism and hospitality.

“This is an unprecedented opportunity for industry executives from around Australasia to have learning experiences that meet the highest international standards,” said QRC Chief Executive and Director Jan Fitz-Gerald.

Ms Fitz-Gerald said the launch of QRC coincides with unprecedented growth in tourism numbers, hospitality and tourism worker shortages, and research by the country’s leading authorities that warned 120,000 extra workers would be needed in the industry by 2010.

“This represents not only challenges for senior managers, but also immense opportunities for those seeking to obtain the skills necessary to meet the demands of this rapidly growing and exciting sector. QRC participants will graduate with the skills required to meet those challenges,” she said.

The facilitators have been selected from the world’s most prestigious hospitality providers, including Cornell University, New York University, the Virginia Technical Institute and State University, Hong Kong University and Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

“QRC’s Executive Education Series presenters are all motivational leaders who inspire long term strategic thinking, are focused on solving the challenges faced by industry executives and on imparting the skills that are of paramount importance in any tourism or hospitality organisation today,” said Ms Fitz-Gerald.

“They are, quite simply, the best in the business, and we are thrilled to have them on board.”

Designed to meet the increasingly complex management needs of the global hospitality industry, the Executive Education Series has courses for specific levels of management.

The series will include the Executive Management Programme (EMP), the Management Development Programme (MDP), and the Emerging Managers’ Development Programme (EMDP).

“QRC is the only provider of courses like this in the Southern Hemisphere, and fittingly, the courses are held in the heart of Queenstown, New Zealand’s premier tourist destination."

Ms Fitz-Gerald said the tourism and hospitality industry in New Zealand was changing in the face of unprecedented growth and projected growth.

“The industry is changing to a profession rather than simply a career or a job,” she said.

“Current and projected job shortages means New Zealand urgently needs to have managers prepared and skilled to cope with changes and growth. There is currently a gap between the growth of the ‘high end’ tourism market and industry delivery meeting the expectation of that high end market.

“We have the talent and the enthusiasm in the people who are working in the industry today and those who would like to work in the industry. Now we must deliver them the skills they need to meet those expectations.”

The Executive Education Series serves as an exciting build-up to the official QRC opening in October 2005.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Queenstown Resort College is scheduled to officially open in October 2005.

The college will cater for about 200 students daily and employ around 35 fulltime and part-time teaching and support staff when it is fully operational.

The college will operate from two sites in downtown Queenstown and preparatory work is underway on the Coronation Drive site.

The new building will include 13 classrooms, a specialist hospitality training room, computer suite, boutique reference library, executive wing and student café/lounge.

When fully operational, the college will offer university preparation courses, tourism and hospitality management programmes, executive business English studies, study, work and travel internships and workplace skills courses, and a wide range of visitor programmes.

The University of Otago and Outward Bound are affiliate partners of QRC.

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