THE UNIVERSITY of Port Elizabeth has teamed up with local company Shamwari Hospitality and the University of Washington to establish a Centre for Tourism Studies. “The University of Port Elizabeth is uniquely situated as the home for a Centre of Tourism Studies,” says Prof Martheanne Finnemore, dean of the faculty of Economics and Building Sciences. The centre will conduct much-needed research into the Eastern Cape’s tourism business, in addition to co-ordinating tourism-related courses and skills that already exist within the university and a newly-established international private higher-education institution for the hospitality industry in Port Alfred. The post-graduate programme would focus on sustainable development, tourism economics, tourism law, research, and strategic planning as applied to the tourism industry. It would also incorporate “wildlife management” modules offered by CHN, as well as maritime tourism studies to be offered jointly with the University of Washington in Seattle. “There is a lot of synergy between UPE and the MHN Campus in Port Alfred,” says MHN managing director Stoffel Goosen. Shamwari, which is a partner in the CHN campus together with the University of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, has committed itself to three years’ funding for the new Centre for Tourism Studies. The University of Washington will share its expertise in maritime tourism – a growing industry in the Eastern Cape, which is becoming a favourite stop-off for cruise ships. Prof Finnemore says the initiative will help to develop expertise at a professional level within the tourism industry – initially in the Eastern Cape, but with the potential of spreading out into the rest of the country. As an engaged university, UPE will work with the industry to develop appropriate courses, be they a BCom degree focusing on tourism, tourism-focused legal courses or labour relations as they apply to the tourism industry. UPE already has much of the necessary research and teaching capacity within the Economic Sciences and law faculties, she says. Head of the Tourism Law Unit, Prof Patrick Vrancken, has edited a book on the law as it relates to tourism. The tourism Centre will also link to UPE’s Terrestrial Ecology Unit and the Institute for Coastal Management. These two units will help planners and investors to ensure that tourism development in the province is sustainable and that the biodiversity of the Eastern Cape – one of its main selling points to tourists – is maintained. The development of the unit will follow the successful model of UPE’s Certificate in Labour Relations, says Prof Finnemore. It will enhance the international standing of UPE. Working together with the Tourism University, it is expected to draw more international students to UPE and the Eastern Cape. Some 11 per cent of UPE students already come from beyond the country’s borders, and she believes that more could be attracted to complete specific tourism-related modules developed through the new Centre for Tourism Studies. The centre will also conduct important research into the Eastern Cape’s tourism industry. “There is no real database of who is coming into the province. Nor is there a complete database of bed and breakfasts, hotels, etc. Without this knowledge, we cannot understand the existing market, or access new markets,” says Prof Finnemore. It will take about a year to establish the Centre, she says.