The course instructor Dr. Fernando Lourenço(right) took a photo with the founder of Le Bristo Marcellinho Restaurant(left).
IFT Tourism Retail and Marketing Management year 4 students successfully completed a Visual Merchandising and Store Design project to help a newly opened restaurant called Le Bistro Marcellinho founded by Roberto Souza. The ultimate aim for the project is to help the restaurant to develop ways to utilise its space by proposing ideas and new business models to help the company to develop new revenue stream and/or to drive in more locals and tourists into the restaurant. Students engaged in market research, development of moodboard, design concepts, prepared 3D models and floorplans as well as design illustrations. To enhance the quality of this course, the course instructor has invited local experts Simon Kwong, João Ricardo Lao, Clement Cheng, Selma Branco Cheng and Elvis Wong, who came to the classroom to share their experiences about store design and visual merchandising. The growth of the retail industry in Macao is making every aspect related to running a successful retail business highly important. The course aims to inform students the importance of store design and visual merchandising to enhance customers experience as well as to entice them to visit the store and to encourage purchases. The course instructor Dr. Fernando Lourenço and the founder of Le Bristo Marcellinho congratulate the students for their efforts and for the quality of work they produced. The project is a fantastic way to build a stronger link with the industry by offering supports to local enterprises as well as allow students to gain experiences. For more information about the projects, please check out YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/iftdesigncourses. The Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) was established in 1995, and offers the most extensive range of tourism and hospitality-related bachelor degree programmes in Macao. Annually, approximately 20,000 participants attend its vocational and professional training courses. IFT collaborates with 101 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and has strong links with 500 leading tourism and hospitality corporations worldwide that provide internship opportunities to IFT students. IFT was the first institution to be accredited by the UNWTO.TedQual Certification System for tourism education, and now has 8 bachelor degree programmes with this certification. Currently, the Institute has the greatest number of bachelor degree programmes certified under that system of any tertiary education establishment worldwide. IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and has twice won the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from PATA.