MCI once again wins coveted DGT science prize

For the seventh time in a row, an MCI Tourism Studies graduate has been awarded the science prize by the German Association of Tourism (DGT). On the opening day of ITB, the world’s largest tourism fair, held annually in Berlin, Jannis Braun received the coveted award in the category “best paper by a young talent”.

Jannis Braun convinced the jury with his thesis on “Brand identity as a basis for Alpine destination branding”. The objective of the prize-winning paper was to examine whether brand models common in other industries could be applied to tourism destinations and which challenges and success factors had to be considered. “Jannis Braun managed to systematically analyze and apply the abstract issue of brand identity for destinations.” says Prof. Hubert Siller, Head of the MCI Tourism Business Department. “I am obviously very pleased that the DGT science prize went to MCI Tourism for the seventh time.”

Prof . Anita Zehrer, Vice President of DGT and responsible for young academics, particularly stresses the practical relevance of the awarded paper for destinations: “In his master thesis, Mr. Braun successfully applies the current knowledge on brand management to Alpine destination branding. This is a highly topical issue that will be observed with great interest within the industry.”

The German Association of Tourism annually awards outstanding theses from tourism study programs at the ITB. The graduates of the year 2016/2017 could submit their tourism-based theses in four categories: best young academic Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis, best dissertation, best Master’s thesis on e-tourism and best Master's thesis on sustainability in tourism. MCI winner Jannis Braun convinced the jury in the “best young academic paper” category with 96.5 out of 100 points.