Over the next month, students of CQU’s Tourism program will be engaging in an online interactive exchange with their counterparts at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US.

The online project has been developed by Associate Professor Les Killion of CQU’s School of Marketing and Tourism, and Professor Nancy McGehee of Virginia Tech’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Tourism students from both institutions will locate online advertisements that they believe accurately depict both Australia and the US as tourist destinations and provide a short discussion of the reasons for their choices which will then be placed on a web-based blackboard.

Using the discussion list, students will then exchange their views concerning the accuracy of the advertisements from the perspectives of their own cultures.

Associate Professor Killion said that the project would identify the extent to which stereotypical perceptions influence subsequent decisions regarding the selection of holiday destinations.

“My guess is that students from both institutions will select some fairly iconic images to illustrate what they regard as identifying the attractions of the countries of their counterparts, but will select less prominent images to illustrate the attractions of their home country as a destination,” Associate Professor Killion said.

One of the positive impacts of tourism is to enhance international understanding and it is hoped that well after the project has been completed the students from both institutions will maintain their contacts.

The project follows a visit made in 2003 by Associate Professor Gayle Jennings as an invited scholar in Virginia Tech’s Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program.