Der Studiengang Health Tourism Studies und weitere Programme werden am Alpine Center zugelassen

Alpine College’s Advisory Board endorses Health Tourism studies and other new programmes of study

Alpine College’s Advisory Board comprises leading figures representing local and international hotels, property developers, consultancy companies, events and conventions companies, associations and press related to the hospitality and tourism industry. The Advisory Board’s annual meeting took place on 27 April and was hosted by the Chair, Ms Irini Varda Capsis at the Capsis Cultural Exhibition & Conference Center. Sybil Hofmann, Alpine’s President welcomed the members and thanked them for their contributions in many ways, citing that their presence is a testimonial to Alpine’s untiring effort toward maintaining the highest quality in education and being responsive to ever-changing industry needs and priorities. Alpine’s Academic Dean, Dr Georgios Papageorgiou informed the members of the new courses that Alpine will be offering as of the new academic year and solicited their feedback. He thanked all those who had filled in the questionnaire with feedback on such issues as the relevance of Alpine’s curricula to industry needs. Alan Furlong, Alpine’s Hotel School Director presented the re-launch of a new unit at Alpine College which was formed to respond to industry demands in the areas of training, consulting and seminar services for the hotel, restaurant and tourism industry. He mentioned the projects that were awarded to the ACU thus far and added that ACU will custom design a complete package to meet companies’ objectives by following a proven consulting process that integrates personal contact with quantitative and qualitative analysis methods.

A guest speaker and a new member of Alpine’s Advisory Board, Dr Constantine Constantinides, CEO of healthCare cybernetics (hCc) made a vibrant presentation on Health Tourism, focusing on “What it is, and What it can be” He mentioned that he had proposed to the Ministry of Tourism the idea of organizing the first Integration Congress on Health Tourism in Greece as well as to develop 9 destinations in Greece into Health Tourism areas. Dr Constantinidis explained that he considers this term as an inverted umbrella that gathers together all 8 segments of health tourism: Medical Tourism, Dental Tourism, Spa and Thalassotherapy, Wellness and Fitness, Sports Tourism, Culinary Tourism, Accessible Tourism, and Assisted Residential Tourism (ambient assisted living abroad). Dr Constantinides will be offering a course in Health Tourism at Alpine, which will be hosting the Health Tourism Research Institute.

A discussion ensued in which all members of the Board answered a question raised by Alpine’s Hotel School Director concerning the challenges that the present global crisis is posing especially with regards to employment and education. General Managers of leading hotels advised that students become more versatile, and that they be taught to appreciate better the “behaviour of figures”, management reporting and how to interpret profit and loss statements at an early stage in their learning. “I would like to see all the members set a common goal to help each other in this time of recession” said Margarita Manousou, Managing Editor of Touristiki Agora.

Alpine’s new courses include:

- BA(Hons) International Events & Conventions Management
- BA(Hons) International Food & Beverage Management
- 2-year Diploma in Spa Management
- Spa Management Certificate Course (online)

Members were very complimentary of the new programmes. Here are some of their comments:

“I am very excited to see that the number of courses offered at Alpine College has tripled since I graduated from Alpine in 1989. I am looking forward to being more involved in the new programmes.” Themis Trakas, Senior Associate, HVS.

“I am delighted that Alpine College has commenced with a 2-year Spa Management course. Wellness is the future. I can see this being very successful.” Lydia Mastronikoli, Director, HAPCO.

“Introducing a Spa Management course online is an excellent idea as people can have a choice to have a double major. This is what Cornell University used to offer when I was a student there. Also, Medical Tourism is a new trend in the industry. This is a service offered abroad but not in Greece. Alpine College should add some medical tourism modules to the Spa programme.” Irini Varda-Capsis, Commercial Director, Capsis Hotels & Resorts.

“I believe that there is a demand for a Master’s degree in Health Tourism. Alpine can definitely structure a course up to MBA level.” Dr Constantinos Constantinides, Chief Executive, HealthCare cybernetics (hCc).

“I am very honoured to be invited to participate in the Advisory Board meeting together with a very dymanic group of individuals” said Chronis Griveas, deputy CEO of Astir Palace Resort. Farsin Walizadeh, Operations and Development, Costa Navarino, TEMES SA was noted as saying “how happy he was to have progressed with Alpine College to establish educational activities in the Peloponnese region”.

Other members who contributed ideas and shared views during the meeting included Ms Vicky Santikos of Santikos Hotels & Resorts, Mr Stephanos Stefanou of AKS Hotels, Ms Afroditi Arvaniti, of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Mr Bart van de Winkel, Hilton’s General Manager. Panagiotis Podimatas of P.C. Podimatas Audiovisuals stressed the need to organize a congress in order to address all the issues affecting today’s tourism environment and to come up with alternative forms of tourism, such as Health Tourism.

In closing, Ms Irini Varda Capsis stressed the importance of Advisory Board meetings that provide an invaluable opportunity for a genuine exchange of knowledge between practitioners and academics.

Quelle: Alpine Center, Press Release, 04.05.2009