Creative Place-Making and Tourism – Dr Sandra Gho, Auckland University of Technology
Sandra’s research focuses on using events as a solution for destination marketing and creative place-making. Using an integrated lens of an event practitioner, a place-maker and an academic, her work has developed five strands of research. The first strand started with her PhD and it looks at serious event attendees (artists and producers) motivations at different stages of their event travel careers (ETC) and involvement with their social worlds. Sandra is expanding this strand of research to observe the ETC of other serious leisure participants including volunteers and sailors at the 36th America’s Cup. Her second strand of research explores the activation of unique spaces with arts and culture. A trend paper on the future of Vietnam’s intangible heritage was published in the Journal of Tourism Futures to explore the potential future development of new tourist attractions in rural area. At present, the concept of placemaking is most predominant in America and Europe. Sandra plans to curate a series of creative place-making research projects covering unexplored territories. Her third strand of research is a cross-disciplinary study around transformational tourism. Along with a team of social psychologist and a tourism and hospitality scholar, they look at designing future transformational travel experiences. Sandra’s other research interest also encompasses creative pedagogies & visual methods for event studies.
Children and Tourism – Dr Mimi Li, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Mimi Li joined the School of Hotel & Tourism Management as Assistant Professor in 2007. She got her Bachelor’s degree from Peking University in China, her Master’s degree from University of Waterloo in Canada, and her Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in the U. S. A.
Dr. Li is an active researcher. She has published over 50 articles on referred journals including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. She has been developing focused areas of research on tourist behavior, hospitality and tourism marketing, and China tourism. Dr. Li is the leading author of a bilingual textbook on hospitality and tourism marketing, and editor of three edited books. She has also been active in seeking grant opportunities. She is the Principle Investigators of multiple research grants, including the highly competitive Hong Kong SAR Government Research Grant Council General Research Fund, and the Natural Science Fund of China research grant. The total amount secured was over HK $2 million.
Dr. Li has also been actively engaged in community service through sitting in editorial boards of journals, association committees, and reviewing submissions for referred journals. Dr. Li is the associate editor of Tourism Planning and Design, she also sits in the editorial board of Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Journal of China Tourism Research, and International Journal of Hospitality and Event Management. She is the guest editor of three special issues of Journal of China Tourism Research, and one special issue of Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing.
Dr. Li is keen on translating academic research into practice by leading or participating in consultancy projects. She has been involved in over 20 consultancy projects in tourism marketing in Hong Kong and the US, and in tourism planning in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
E-mindfulness and Tourism – Professor Ugljesa Stankov, University of Novi Sad
Coming soon…
Existentialism and Tourism – Dr Ksenia Krillova, Institute Paul Bocuse, France
Ksenia is an associate professor of marketing at Institute Paul Bocuse (Lyon, France). Her main research interests are consumer experiences in tourism and hospitality, which draws on philosophy (existentialism and aesthetics), social theory, and marketing theory, with practical implications for destination marketing. Particularly, her research is focused on aesthetics and transformative tourism experiences. Ksenia has over 16 years of professional experience, of which 9 years in academic and consultancy research. Her research is regularly published in leading international tourism journals, and she has supervised and mentored research students at Bachelor, Master, and PhD levels. Born and raised in Russia, Ksenia’s career spans three continents and countries (USA, Hong Kong, and France). In her free time, she ponders the questions of life, death, human (dis)connectedness, freedom and the meaning of it all.
Tourism Crisis and Disaster Recovery – Dr Gabby Walters, University of Queensland, Australia
Associate Professor Gabby Walters is a researcher from the University of Queensland, Australia. She has a substantial background in tourism marketing with an emphasis on consumer psychology. Gabby has focused much of her research towards image and reputation management and in particular tourism market recovery following crises and disastrous events. Gabby’s expertise in these fields have led to a number of invited key notes from national and international organisations. She has published over 45 journal articles and book chapters including a recently released book titled ‘Image and Reputation Recovery for the Tourism and Hospitality Industry.
Gabby has conducted numerous consultancies and projects with tourism destinations from different parts of the world seeking to enhance or revitalise their reputations and regain trust among the tourism market as a result one or many critical events. In 2017 Gabby was awarded the Centre of Australian Universities Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) Fellows Award. An esteemed accolade that recognises significant contributions to the tourism and hospitality field.