Selkirk College Again Takes Top Honours at B.C. Tourism Conference

For the second year in a row, a team from Selkirk College won top spot and $1,000 in prize money at the B.C. Student Case Study Competition, which was held last month in Vancouver.

Each year, students from B.C.'s colleges and universities are invited to make presentations at an annual conference sponsored by the B.C. Centre for Tourism Leadership and Innovations (BCTLI). Over 700 delegates attended this year.

Teams are judged by panels of industry leaders on the quality and content of presentations probing current issues facing the B.C. tourism industry.

Selkirk's team -- Kellan McKeen, from North Vancouver, Mallory Attorp, Grand Forks, and Frank Shin, Nelson, all students in the Resort and Hotel Management Program -- researched province-wide yield management, the impact of the rising Canadian dollar and capacity utilization.

"It was really interesting to see how everything we learned in our classes, and everything we researched for our presentation, involves really current and relevant issues in the tourism industry," McKeen said. "I think our success was largely due to our ability to touch on these hot topics."

The team's challenge was to use yield management principles to ensure healthy occupancy revenues throughout the province.

The team coach was Steve Bareham, an instructor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism.

Selkirk College competed in the Hospitality Management Diploma competition against teams from Malaspina University College, Camosun College and Vancouver Community College.

Ideas proposed by the Selkirk team included a province-wide YouTube contest to motivate B.C. residents to videotape unique B.C. tourism attractions that would then be uploaded on B.C. tourism websites as well as on YouTube for global access.

Other ideas included a multi-lingual hotline, more focus on interpretive information for foreign tourists who want to learn more about the places they visit, and proposals to improve rail, bus and air travel into the B.C. interior, so tourists can move more easily and affordably to even far-flung regions of the province.

"Selkirk provided us with important business communication skills, which helped us convey our message and suggestions to the judges," said Attorp. "However, the best part of the conference was having the chance to meet and network with people from our industry."

Among the panel of judges were chief executive officers with the B.C. Hotel Association and the B.C. Lodging and Campgrounds Association.

The case study competition lets students showcase knowledge and skills that they can apply immediately for employers upon graduation.

First published on March 04, 2008