2011

The Tourism Research Centre has received a three year grant of $90,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The purpose of the grant is to foster and facilitate tourism research at Brandon University. The grant includes research, partnership building, guest speakers, conference attendance and web site development.

2010

Dr. Doug Ramsey has been named to Manitoba’s Agritourism Working Group. Facilitated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, this group is responsible for expanding the sector in Manitoba.

2009

Dr. Doug Ramsey has been named to the Board of Directors of the Keyston Center in Brandon.

In April 2009, Dr. Doug Ramsey was asked to serve on the Executive Committee of the Board of Travel Manitoba. Dr. Ramsey has been a board member of Travel Manitoba since the inception of the Crown Agency in 2004. Dr. Ramsey will also serve on a newly established working group given the task of developing a sustainable tourism policy for Manitoba.

The third annual Tourism Research Week was held in March 2009. Two guest speakers, Dr. Donna Senese and Dr. Mary Cawley, gave classroom and public lectures.

Dr. Donna Senese gave a public lecture titled: “Rural Tourism as Catalyst for Amenity Migration: A Comparative Examination of the Wine Regions of British Columbia, Tuscany and Andalucia Spain”. Dr. Senese is an Associate Professor in Community, Culture and Global Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Dr. Mary Cawley gave a public lecture title: “Adding Value Through Integration: A Strategic Approach to Rural Tourism Development Using Examples from Ireland”. Dr. Cawley is a Professor of Geography at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

2008

The Department of Rural Development and the Rural Development Institute co-sponsored the biennial Graduate Student Conference, Rural Issues and Insights: Tourism Development in March 2008. The tourism themed conference completed “Tourism Research Week”, sponsored by the Tourism Research Centre through its SSHRC Aid to Small Universities Grant. In addition to nine tourism presentations from faculty, students, industry and government, two keynote speakers (see invited speakers section of the TRC pages) brought the conference to a close. Click here for conference program.

2007

Research conducted by student interns Allister Cucksey and Mathew Grills for the Brandon University Tourism Research Centre to compile a database of the tourist facilities in Southwestern Manitoba. Date of completion August, 2007

Dr. Doug Ramsey (Rural Development) accepted the invitation to Chair the Visitor Services Task Force of Travel Manitoba. A board member of Travel Manitoba, Doug was happy to take on the challenge. The task force was given a mandate to review all aspects of Visitor Services for the Province of Manitoba including: Tourism Information Centres at border crossing and the Forks in Winnipeg, web-based visitor service information, telephone services, and the central warehouse for storing and distributing paper-based tourism promotion information.

2006

Research conducted by student interns Andrea Graham and Abayomi Oredegbe for the Brandon University Tourism Research Centre to compile a database of the tourist facilities in Southwestern Manitoba. Date of completion August, 2006.

2005

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Ken Beesley, Professor of Rural Development at Brandon University and founding member of the Tourism Research Centre, the Tourism Research Centre has received a three year SSHRC grant (Aid to Small Universities). The value of the grant is $71,000 and will foster research in four areas:

• a. tourism issues in rural and small town environments
• b. developing rural tourism profiles in Western Manitoba
• c. tourism theories and concepts in rural development
• d. rural tourism and rural development in an international context (e.g. Mexico, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, and the USA).

2004

In November 2004, Dr. Doug Ramsey, Associate Professor, Rural Development at Brandon University was named to the Board of Directors of the new Crown Corporation, Travel Manitoba.