University of Queensland student Ms Maria Golubovskaya has presented a winning paper at Switzerland’s World Tourism Forum Lucerne, taking out first place in the Young Talents Awards.
Maria from University of Queensland was one of eight students selected worldwide for participation in the forum in April.
The UQ School of Tourism student won the top prize for her academic paper on the implications of climate change on the ski industry.
She was subsequently offered a position with Kempinski Hotels - Global Hotel Alliance.
Ms Golubovskaya said the event provided an exceptional opportunity to meet senior level managers, researchers, academics and other passionate tourism students.
“The topics discussed included sustainability, talent management and new marketing, which are some of the biggest trends in the tourism industry,” she said.
“This conference proved that we, as Gen Y and young students, have valuable input and are ready to contribute to the future of tourism.”
Ms Golubovskaya’s research explores the tourism industry from an environmental perspective, specifically focusing on climate change implications for the ski industry.
“Australian ski resorts represent one example of tourist destinations suffering from the negative impact of climate change that leads to significantly shorter winter ski seasons,” Ms Golubovskaya said.
Fellow UQ attendee and tourism student Ms Marine Billot also represented UQ by speaking in a panel discussion on Gen Y employees.
“We discussed the expectations of Gen Y in the hospitality and tourism industry, and whether the current style of management will work in the future,” Ms Billot said.
Ms Billot is discussing an internship with the United Nations World Tourism Forum in Madrid.
School of Tourism lecturer Dr Gabby Walters coordinated the students’ attendance at the forum and helped them with their research paper submissions.
“The students were treated like true celebrities at the event as they were presented on the world stage in front of a variety of global tourism and hospitality industry leaders, many of whom have asked the girls for their CV’s,” Dr Walters said.
The World Tourism Forum 2013 brought together more than 400 global tourism industry leaders and provided the opportunity to discuss challenges and strategies on the topics of global shift, green growth, talents and new marketing.
Find out more here.
Media: Claire Shuter 07 3346 9259 or c.shuter@uq.edu.au
