Esplanade Hotel Fremantle WA
Feb 10-13, 2009

The CAUTHE 2009  conference was hosted by Curtin University at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, Western Australia.  185 Delegates registered for the conference 59 (32%) of whom were international.  The conference received 182 full reviewed and working paper submissions from Australian and international authors.  Of these, 134 were included in the final program.  The difference in number of papers submitted and the number programmed was primarily due to a large number of last minute withdrawals, owing to delegates’ conference funding cuts.

Fortunately, the new panel discussion format adopted by the conference meant last minute withdrawals did not result in “holes” in the program as would have happened with the traditional individual presentation format.  Ten keynote speakers from various backgrounds presented over the course of the program on a range of topics including tourism economics and business, hospitality, heritage tourism, culture, ecotourism, and climate change.

The academic program was complemented with various social activities, including a welcome reception, walking tours of Fremantle and a dinner at the historic Fremantle Prison.  A raffle at the conference dinner raised $2009 for the Victorian Bushfire appeal. The warm evenings, nearby beaches and numerous cafes, restaurants and pubs afforded delegates excellent opportunities to explore the delights of Fremantle after the day’s conference sessions.

Outcome of CAUTHE 2009 Raffle

Each year CAUTHE holds a raffle/silent auction to raise funds for the activities of the association using souvenir items kindly donated by the conference attendees.

This year the CAUTHE Executive decided to donate the funds to the Red Cross to support the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund. The support received was overwhelming with delegates generously donating $2,009 which will go towards assisting individuals and communities affected by the Victorian bushfires.

Industry liaison

We are endeavouring to strengthen our ties with the relevant tourism and hospitality industries to build relationships to harbour mutually beneficial outcomes through sharing of knowledge and various collaborations. As part of our new industry liaison initiative, CAUTHE will be establishing a regular ‘CAUTHE in Action’ e-newsletter.

In addition to keeping the industry informed with happenings of CAUTHE through the e-newsletter, we are also inviting CAUTHE members to submit a 100 word synopsis of their industry-relevant research to be selected for publication in each edition of ‘CAUTHE in Action’.

Your synopsis should include a brief description of the research context, method, practical implications for our industry partners and contact details for the primary researchers. The first round of contributions should be sent to our Industry Liaison representative, Alana Thomson no later than 9 April 2009.

Launch of CAUTHE 2010 Conference

The 2010 CAUTHE Conference will be hosted by School of Management, University of Tasmania and will take place from 9 – 12 February at the Grand Chancellor Hotel, Hobart, Tasmania. The conference theme is “Challenging the Limits” and researchers will be invited to submit papers which examine aspects such as heritage, ethical and sustainable tourism, place and destination management, consumer demand for tourism and hospitality and the right to travel.

The CAUTHE 2010 Conference website will go live on 1 April 2009.

Update on CAUTHE Website

The new CAUTHE website was launched during the 2009 CAUTHE conference and has received favourable feedback, with members taking advantage of the online shop facility to join and renew memberships.New pages and information include: Membership Categories and Benefits, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), News and Special Offers, 2010 Conference information and the Online Shop.

We welcome feedback, updates or requests regarding the website to contact page.

Testimonial from Fiona Wheeler, PhD candidate, Monash University 

I attended the annual Bill Faulkner PhD workshop at the CAUTHE 2009 conference in Fremantle.  At this stage in my PhD (close to submission), I honestly didn’t have high expectations of the workshop, being so caught up in my research, completion and thinking ‘how can a workshop help me now? I just need to finish it!’  However, I was pleasantly surprised and very glad I attended.  The small number of PhD students attending made the workshop very relaxed and collegiate.  The focused agenda – looking at the emotional aspects of doing a PhD – was great in that I feel that these aspects of the PhD are sometimes overlooked: we tend to get caught up in the mechanics and processes of research, forgetting the human dimension to it all.  It is a journey after all, sometimes a very personal one, which can be very stressful and emotionally charged, and motivation is something that students grapple with at every stage of the journey.  While I took away some key insights – mainly about keeping the PhD in perspective (‘It’s just a PhD!’) – talking to those students just starting their journey, or those part way through it, I got the impression that the workshop was of particular benefit to them.  ‘Forewarned is forearmed’ as they say, so being aware of the emotional aspects of the journey, and the potential psychological impacts a PhD can be very beneficial, for students and supervisors alike.

Speaking of which, I was really impressed with the line-up of experienced academics who attended the workshop to give us the benefit of their research and supervisory expertise.  The small group discussions worked very well.  Four other students and I were in a group led by Professor Richard Butler, whom I have always wanted to meet and chat with as I draw on his work a great deal in my research.  The group worked exceptionally well – each PhD student was able to talk about their research in a relaxed and friendly environment.  Richard was fantastic – he did not critique or patronise, but asked insightful questions of each of us and generously gave us the benefit of his knowledge and expertise by drawing on his many years of research experience.  Equally, it is always interesting to hear what other students are researching. For example, another student and I found many synergies in our work, suggesting potential opportunities for collaborate in the future, but if not, just to share insights and literature is a good result!  I also made some new PhD friends to hang out with at the conference thereafter and with whom I will definitely keep in touch.

The testimonials from supervisors and current PhD graduates were particularly helpful, especially for someone at my stage of the journey:  it helped reinforce that the PhD is just one step and there is a life thereafter.  I am now looking forward to that more and am actually setting about looking for opportunities and making plans to continue with an academic career, something that was not on my radar before, being totally engrossed in the PhD itself.  So, thanks to Michael Hughes and all those that gave of their time and shared their experiences and insights.

As for the CAUTHE conference itself – it was great and very worthwhile.  I caught up with old friends and made many new acquaintances.  My panel session worked very well and I felt I did my research paper justice!  The keynotes, plenary sessions and other panel presentations I attended were all very relevant and stimulating.  However, the highlight was definitely “Little Creature’s Brewery” as it was the perfect place and environment to meet and chat about common interests!  Looking forward to 2010 CAUTHE in Hobart!