Chapter 3 Knowledge Transfer : Can Research Centers Make a Difference?

A number of tourism researchers have suggested that despite the proliferation of research in the field, the exchange of knowledge from academic research to practical application in the industry is poor. The argument made is that academic research seldom influences the real world of practice, and that for knowledge transfer to assist destinations a paradigm shift is required. This chapter takes a look at the challenges of knowledge transfer in tourism and focuses on a unique research center in South Carolina, where private and public sectors have joined together in an effort to support applied and commercially relevant research in order to improve the competitiveness of the state as a destination.