Have dream, will share with students

It started as a dream to set up a tourist attraction or run a resort, but along the way Pierre Benckendorff became a teacher and researcher.

Dr Benckendorff started studying tourism with the idea of one day establishing a wildlife park or managing a five-star tourist resort.

By the time he had completed a first class honours degree at James Cook University, Dr Benckendorff was hooked on research.

He went on to complete a PhD thesis on the topic of strategic planning in tourist attractions at the university’s Townsville campus.

After a stint teaching and winning awards there, Dr Benckendorff has just moved to The University of Queensland and started as a senior lecturer at the School of Tourism.

“I want to be interactive and involve the students, so they are not just sitting and listening to me for two hours,” Dr Benckendorff said.

“I would like to question and challenge them to help them learn. I want them to have enthusiasm for tourism and raise the professionalism of the industry.

“I will be putting an emphasis on developing the student’s skills to succeed. They can gain the additional knowledge they need on the job, if you give them the right skill set.

“I am keen for students to be resourceful and ask questions. They can use their skill set to find solutions.”

Dr Benckendorff said he enjoyed dividing his time between teaching and research and was looking forward to working with the School of Tourism’s staff.

Because tourism was a “fairly young field of research”, there were plenty of opportunities for fresh and innovative studies, he said.

Dr Benckendorff is also a keen traveller, having already explored parts of Europe, North America and Asia.

He has been shown the machinations behind the scenes at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as staff prepared to welcome up to 20,000 a day to the theme park.

“It has all been very enjoyable, seeing how different people do things. My favourite place is New Zealand. It is so easy to travel around there.”

Media: Pierre Benckendorff (3346 6241, p.benckendorff@uq.edu.au) or Erik de Wit (0417 088 772)