Public and Media Relations for Tourism,

Hospitality & Events

Level 6.

COURSE OUTLINE AND ASSESSMENT BRIEF

Module: Public Relations and Sponsorship for Tourism, Hospitality & Events

Assessment type: Individual report WRIT1 (100% weighting)

Aims: The aim of this module is to allow students to research and critically assess the significance,
opportunities and threats presented by public relations and sponsorship to the tourism,
hospitality and events industries.

Learning outcomes: On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Evaluate the importance of public relations to the tourism, hospitality and events industries, with particular
consideration to the concept of “Reputations”.
2. Critically assess the opportunities and threats that the Internet and social media present to the effective
management of public relations for the tourism hospitality and events industries.
3. Research and evaluate a range of issues affecting public relations and sponsorship most relevant to the THE
industries, including technological, business, political, geographical, cultural, social and ethical.
4. Research and evaluate cases that reflect good practice and effective strategies in public relations and sponsorship
management in the THE industries.

Indicative content
 Definitions of Public Relations and Sponsorship in the broader marketing context.
 Understandings of the concept of “Reputations” in tourism, hospitality and events.
 The impact of social media and web 2.0 on traditional public relations and sponsorship practices.
 Best practice models in public relations and sponsorship.
 Technological, business, political, geographical, cultural, social and ethical issues of public relations and
sponsorship management

Required reading:
Cornwell, T.B. (2015). Sponsorship in Marketing: Effective Communication through Sports, Arts and Events.
Abingdon: Routledge. (available as an e-book)
Morgan, N., Pritchard, A. and Pride, R. (eds.) (2011) Destination Brands. Managing Place Reputation. 3rd Ed. Oxford:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Tench, R. and Yeomans, L. (2013) Exploring Public Relations. 3rd Ed. London: Pearson Education. (available as an e-
book)

Recommended reading:
Deuschl, D. (2005) Travel and Tourism Public Relations – An Introductory Guide for Hospitality Managers. Oxford:
Butterworth Heinemann. (available as an e-book)
McDonnel, I. and Moir, M. (2013). Event Sponsorship. Abingdon: Routledge.
Pizam, A. Ed, (2008) Handbook of Hospitality Marketing Management. Oxford: Butterworth Heineman. (available as
an e-book)

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Samm, S. and Wymer, W.W. (Eds). (2003). Nonprofit and Business Sector Collaboration: Social Enterprises, Cause-
related Marketing, Sponsorships and other Corporate Nonprofit Dealings. Abingdon: Routledge.
Shriramesh, K. and Vercic, D. Eds. (2009) The Global Public Relations Handbook – Theory, Research and Practice.
2nd Ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Solis, B. and Breakenridge, D. (2009) Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media is Re-inventing
the Ageing Business of PR. London: Pearson Education.

The following journals contain papers relevant to this module:

Public Relations Review
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Tourism, Culture and Communication
Event Management: an International Journal
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research: the professional journal of the Council on Hotel, Restaurant and
Institutional Education.
Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

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Lectures Program

Lecture1 Module introduction

Public Relations and Reputation Management
Assessment overview and key deadlines

Lecture 2 What are Public Relations?

Sponsorship and Celebrity Endorsements
Assessment brief

Lecture 3 What is Reputation Management? (Focus on reputations in tourism, hospitality

and events)
PR and Crisis Communication (When all else fails - Managing PR in a crisis
situation)
PR Crisis communication staff briefing note

Consultation Assignment consultation

Draft assignment discussion

Lecture 4 PR Tools & Techniques 1 - (Types of PR activities in tourism, hospitality and

events)
Preparing press releases

Lecture 5 PR and Earned Media (Focus on new Media)

Writing a social media staff training manual

Consultation Assignment consultation

Final assignment discussion

Lecture 6 Planning a media event checklist and a familiarization visit toolkit

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Assessment – Individual report WRIT1 (100%) 2000 words

Assignment/Coursework Brief
As most of the world starts to step into the post-Covid stage, INTERNATIONAL HOTEL and RESORTS GROUP
which had upgraded several of their event assets such as conference and event halls since the start of the pandemic,
intends to maximize the utility of these assets in the coming quarter.

As such, a special project task force had been set up and the VP of Marketing had engaged you as a PR consultant to
produce a series of recommendations with regards to the Public Relations and Sponsorship activities to ramp up the
booking of available event assets.

Additional guidelines

Section 1 – to be submitted as a draft for formative feedback

Write an introductory statement that provides a critical analysis of importance of public relations and overall
reputation. Include references to the academic theory to support your arguments.

Include a recommendation evaluating the types of PR and/or sponsorship activities that are most appropriate to the
organisation’s current situation. This will include a rationale of your choice of tools from the ones listed below.
Word count: Approximately 500 words (+/- 10%).

Sections 2, 3 and 4
Select 3 out of the 5 options below and write the following documents for your client:
 A press release
 A social media staff training manual
 A PR crisis communication staff briefing note
 A media event checklist
 A familiarisation visit toolkit

Word count: Approximately 500 words (+/- 10%) for each section.

A minimum of 5 factual/news sources AND 5 academic sources (textbooks and academic journals) are required
in support of the portfolio in order to pass this assessment. References must be listed in a separate section
within the portfolio.

Additional Submission Guidelines

Students must follow submission guidelines as indicated in the Student Submission Guidelines document uploaded in
Moodle.

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 Assessment 1 – Individual Portfolio marking scheme and feedback sheet

Student name:
Criteria Feedback and areas for improvement Marks
Section 1
 Evidence of research into the organization.
 Objective and clear assessment of situation.
 Evidence of links to relevant theory.
 Effective rationale for choice of tools
 Complementarity of chosen tools /30
Section 2
 Relevance of choice of tool
 Effective writing style and presentation
 Effective application of best practice theory /20
Section 3
 Relevance of choice of tool
 Effective writing style and presentation
 Effective application of best practice theory /20
Section 4
 Relevance of choice of tool
 Effective writing style and presentation
 Effective application of best practice theory /20
Research and Academic refencing
 Evidence of research from a wide range of
sources (meeting minimum requirements in
the brief).
 Accurate referencing style using the Harvard
system. /10

Overall marks /100

Overall comments:

5
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