About us
Angie, a mountain addicted girl from Saalbach & Jana, a passionate promoter of the black forest highlands, are sharing their refelctions about their Virtual Study Tour.
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After coming back home from such an incredible trip to Dubai, every kind of virtual Study Tour can’t be nearly as compelling.
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Nevertheless, it is an advanced and expedient method of connecting us students with the MCI network of experts of the international tourism industry.
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It was the goal of the virtual study tour to learn from selected destinations, tourism organizations and companies from all over the world and at different stages of tourism development.
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For us it was a nice and efficient way to get in contact with international practitioners and learn about their view about tourism and to see which challenges they are facing.
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Our personal highlights
Angie Erlbacher
My personal highlight was to listen to Markus Schuckert's insights about China and Taiwan again.
After spending half a year in Taiwan during the pandemic, I clearly had another picture in mind than listening to Markus Schuckert back in the Bachelor's study. With all the experience that I gained during my exchange semester in Taiwan, I could better follow up why things are the way they are in China and Taiwan.
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You really need to take your time to get in touch with other cultures, people and their environment to be able to understand them at least a little bit. So, sitting in front of the laptop and paying attention to Mr. Schuckert, I felt like I am back in Taiwan and relive my experiences I made, the cultural shock I had in the beginning, and I clearly remembered why Taiwan was able to keep people so long safe from the pandemic which shutting down the country from the outside.
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What I also liked about all guest lectures was the topic that combined them all: Sustainability.
Sustainability is focussed all over the world, so it was interesting to see, that the pandemic was a motor to start the movement to a more sustainable tourism or strengthen the efforts which were already made.
Unfortunately, sustainability is not on every country's agenda yet, like China or other big players in the world's tourism industry.
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Overall, all guest lectures were quite interesting and it was inspiring to hear how each person, organization and tourism destination is coping with this challenging situation of the pandemic and the resilience they are taking out of it, either personal or professional.
Jana Wehrle
My personal highlight cannot be attached to one lecture. It was the mixture of all of them, because in my opinion they all have one thing in common: They love what they are doing.
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And this is one goal, that I want to achieve in my life and this virtual study tour reminded me of it again:
It’s my goal for my future to work for a company and in one place that fills me with complete satisfaction and conviction. These experts showed me, that there are so many impressive but hidden places in this world, I haven’t thought about it so far. And during all their presentations I was completely sure, that all of them are happy to tell students about “their” destination, their work and their achievements. To be so convinced of what you are doing, is something to be jealous of.
But it’s not about being jealous – I would like to say thank you to all of them, for open my eyes again for the world, and all the places I haven’t visited yet. But not as a tourist – I think it reminded me of my dream, working abroad in different countries and cultures. With new people, new attitudes, and new challenges.
For sure, it would have been more effective to visit their hometown, to get a deeper understanding and feeling about their region and surroundings. In this way, I am sure that we could have had a livelier and more critical discussion about exciting topics.
