Keynote Speaker

Title: Ethical Leadership: The Foundation for Fostering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Hospitality Industry

Dr. Christina K. Dimitriou is a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) and Certified Online Instructor who has been teaching undergraduate and graduate tourism and hospitality courses for twenty-five years in Europe and the United States. She has industry experience in hotels and her research accomplishments include journal articles, book chapters, conference posters and presentations at regional, national and international conferences. She has served as a scientific committee member, conference moderator, and manuscript reviewer for prestigious journals and conferences in the fields of hospitality, tourism, and healthcare. She also holds several editorial positions in the tourism and hospitality field, demonstrating her dedicated commitment to advancing scholarly research and fostering community engagement on a global scale.

Past Speakers

Title: Tourism and Geospatial Technologies

Vitor Ribeiro has been a geography teacher for fifteen years at Minho University’s Geography Department and the Basic Education Department of ESEPF, Oporto, Portugal, since 2009. He graduated with a PhD in geography from Minho University and Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, and owns a post-graduate degree in education technologies. His main research interests are GIS, Geographic Education, Emerging Technologies, Tourism, Transport, Rural and Urban Development, and Climate Change. As a result, he participated in several national and international projects and led several publications on those research subjects.

Helen Afang Andow is the first female Professor of Entrepreneurship Management from the northern part of Nigeria. She is a doctoral graduate of the prestigious premier Military University in West Africa, Nigerian Defence Academy. She started her career in 2006 and attained the rank of professorship in 2020. She has authored textbooks and over 80 peer-reviewed research articles both locally and internationally. She has held various positions in the Nigerian university system and currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor Kaduna State University. She has successfully supervised and externally examined a lot of PhDs, MPhil and MScs across Nigerian Universities.

Yuri Correa dos Reis holds a degree in Tourism, a master’s in Cartographic Sciences from UNESP, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Regional Development from USP. He has over a decade of academic experience, having served as the coordinator for Tourism at UNOESTE, and Event Management courses and teaching at FATEC Presidente Prudente for 12 years. Additionally, Yuri worked for three and a half years as the Municipal Secretary of Culture and Tourism in Presidente Prudente, one of Brazil’s 150 largest cities. His expertise spans strategic management, hospitality, and public administration, with a focus on fostering innovation and sustainable development in both public and private sectors.

Gabriel Furlan Coletti. PhD in Economics at São Paulo State University (UNESP). Professor of Gastronomy and Hospitality at Senac University Center. Researcher in Food & Beverage and Hospitality Management, Market, Education and Services, with professional experience in food business operations and management.

She is a research professor in the College of Hotel & Tourism Management at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea. Much of her research has focuses on ecotourism, global environmental change, responsible tourism, and traveling during the pandemic.

Thitinan Pholsook holds degrees in Survey Engineering and Civil Engineering from Chulalongkorn University, and a Ph.D. in Energy and Logistics Management Engineering from Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand. With over four years of experience as a transport analyst and logistics solution designer, she excels in operational optimization and project management. Her research focuses on matheuristic algorithms for logistics network optimization, data-driven analysis, text mining, and sentiment analysis to enhance airport user satisfaction. Currently, Thitinan is a lecturer in Transportation and Logistics Engineering at Suranaree University of Technology.

Claudia Popescu, PhD Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest Faculty of International Economics and Business

She works at School of International Cultural Relations, Tokai University, Japan.

Mainly studying tourism in Japan, including over tourism, sustainable tourism, tourism after COVID-19, and new tourism.

Dr. Mohanna Nikbin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management at the West Tehran branch of Islamic Azad University (WTIAU). Her primary research focuses on tourism planning and development, cultural tourism, sustainable tourism, tourism development in World Heritage Sites (WHSs), tourism economics, and qualitative research methods in tourism. Dr. Nikbin has served as a lecturer and researcher at various universities in Iran and national and international conferences related to tourism around the world. She has received notable accolades, including the Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award at the 6th World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure in 2012, and the Valene L. Smith Prize for Best Paper at the “Service Quality in Hospitality & Tourism Experiencing Persian Heritage Conference” in Isfahan, Iran, in 2016.

Ceyda Telek Altiparmakogullari is an assistant professor at the Halic University’s Faculty of Architecture, Industrial Design Department. She has five years of experience working alongside the designer and manager of a Design companies. Altiparmakogullari received her PhD from Izmr University of Economics in 2023. Altiparmakogullari has been actively involved her academic studies on sensory experiences.

Kazumi Kato is an associate professor at Tokai University, school of Marine Science and Technology, Japan. Her main research interests are cruise business, tourism, interlanguage pragmatics, speech acts, task-based language teaching and cooperative learning. She is also interested in ESP and has found opportunities for her students to use authentic English outside classroom.

Maria Magdalini Karalazarou is a graduate of Tourism Management, with a certification of pedagogical and teaching proficiency. She holds an MBA specializing in Tourism and Hospitality as well as a Master’s Degree in Management of Educational Units. She is currently a PhD Candidate at the Department of Organization Management, Marketing & Tourism of the International Hellenic University, Greece. She is being employed in hospitality industry in various managerial roles for the past 17 years.

East Japan Railway Company, Research and Development Centre, Chief Researcher.

BA, Policy Studies, Chuo Univ. Practical experience in branding, sales and promotion of hotel business, senior membership business and payment business. Her research focuses on data-driven decision-making in the field of tourism management and marketing.

Mohammad Samarghandi Khorassani is a master’s student in Tourism Management at the Faculty of Tourism, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, TRNC, Turkey. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Persian Translation. His research interests encompass health tourism, service quality, hotel management, and event tourism. Mohammad has extensive experience as a Public Relations Manager and Technical Manager of Tourism in the travel agency industry, as well as in the pharmaceutical sector in Iran.

Sara Sampieri is an expert in history, archaeology, and art. She has developed an extensive knowledge of intercultural relations, especially between Europe and the Mediterranean region. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Tourism at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and an Honorary Fellow in Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East at the Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Philosophy and Classics, Department of Science of Antiquities. Her research explores the balance between heritage conservation and tourism development to promote a travel destination with particular attention to green and sustainable tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Elif Subaşı is the administrative chief of the Faculty of Law at Eastern Mediterranean University, where she is responsible for maintenance and repair operations. In addition to her administrative role, Elif is pursuing a PhD in Tourism Management at the same university’s Tourism Faculty, where she focuses on sustainable tourism.

Keynote Speaker

Title: The travel decision-making process among three different generations: X, Y and Z

Currently she is an associate editor for Journal of Responsible Tourism Management and also peer reviewer for many academic journals. She has been actively involved in multidisciplinary behavioural research, covering topics and issues related to International Tourism, Tourism wayfinding behaviour, Tourist Traveling Behaviour, Tourism impact, Tourism development and planning. So far Dr. Chang has been published many papers in SSCI journals such as Tourism Geographies, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Tourism Culture & Communication and also international peer review journals such as World Leisure Journal, Society & Leisure, Asian Journal of Business Research, Journal of Tourism, and etc. Her paper ‘” Is virtual reality technology an effective tool for tourism destination marketing? A flow perspective. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology” received “Article of the Year Award” from Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology in 2022.
Dr. Chang received her Ph.D. from Park, Recreation and Tourism Resources, Michigan State University since 2003, and then join Ming Chuan University till now. She used to be a department director from 2006 to 2018 and also continue devoting her time and efforts in teaching and research and also participating in industry and government projects.

Here’s our 2024 Featured Speakers lineup

Sara Sampieri is an expert in history, archaeology, and art. She has developed an extensive knowledge of intercultural relations, especially between Europe and the Mediterranean region. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Tourism at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and an Honorary Fellow in Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East at the Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Philosophy and Classics, Department of Science of Antiquities. Her research explores the balance between heritage conservation and tourism development to promote a travel destination with particular attention to green and sustainable tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Maria Jesus Jerez Jerez, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in International Business at the University of Bedfordshire. Specialising in disruptive innovation in hospitality, she holds a Ph.D. in Business Management and an MA in International Hotel and Restaurant Management. Maria leads courses in International Business and International Tourism Planning and Management, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Tsutomu Yoshioka is a professor of Faculty of International Tourism Management, Toyo-U, Japan, holding Ph.D. Currently he is interested in Hospitality Management, and Sauna Tourism. He got the Book Award from The Association for Leisure and Tourism Study in 2021 and the certification of Sauna Spa Professional Manager in 2023.

She works at School of International Cultural Relations, Tokai University, Japan.

Mainly studying tourism in Japan, including over tourism, sustainable tourism, tourism after COVID-19, and new tourism.

She is a lecturer in the School of Computing and Technology department at Eastern Mediterranean University. She received her doctorate degree in tourism management from Eastern Mediterranean University. Her research focuses on the use of IT and emerging technologies for travel, leisure, tourism, and business purposes.

Vitor Ribeiro is currently a Geography Teacher at Geography Department, at Minho University, and at Basic Education Department of ESEPF, Oporto, Portugal. He graduated with a PhD in Geography from Minho University and Complutense of Madrid, Spain, and owns a Post-Graduation in education technologies. He is an integrated member at research center Lab2PT .

Nelli Ilyinichna Akylbekova, Doctor of Economics, Professor, head of the educational program “Management” of the Institute of Management and Business named after. A.A. Asanova of the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn, Expert of the Agency for Accreditation of Educational Programs “Sapattu Bilim”, has over 160 scientific publications. Area of interest: development of the social sector, education, health care system, demographic processes, development of tourism, financial system.

Sara Sampieri is an expert in history, archaeology, and art. She has developed an extensive knowledge of intercultural relations, especially between Europe and the Mediterranean region. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Tourism at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and an Honorary Fellow in Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East at the Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Philosophy and Classics, Department of Science of Antiquities. Her research explores the balance between heritage conservation and tourism development to promote a travel destination with particular attention to green and sustainable tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Gloria Siahaan, a master’s student graduate at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, focuses on Industrial Engineering. Affiliated with the LSCM Laboratory, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Hasanuddin University. Passionate about supply chain management, her keen interest extends to sustainability, emphasizing eco-friendly practices and green hotel initiatives.

Yuma Akaho is a researcher at the Centre for Reskill & Recurrent Education and is concurrently pursuing a doctoral degree at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. My research focuses on adventure tourism, outdoor adventure education and national park management & marketing.

Jagoda Goll, MSc International Management, PhD Candidate in Gdańsk University of Technology. My scientific interests concern hospitality management, especially restaurants. I’ve just started my third-degree education and my research plan is focused on drivers and barriers of sustainable technology adoption in the hospitality industry.

Michael Kemp is a PhD student in Socio-Economic Geography at the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University. His research interests include Small Island Developing States, Community Based Tourism, Sustainable Development and Luxury Tourism.

Yuma Akaho is a researcher at the Centre for Reskill & Recurrent Education and is concurrently pursuing a doctoral degree at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. My research focuses on adventure tourism, outdoor adventure education and national park management & marketing.

Architect and Educator, Master’s in Urban Renewal, and Doctorate candidate in Architectural Sciences. I have served in roles at prestigious universities and I’m currently the General Manager of FD Architects. I have won several awards and recognitions, such as Architect of the Year in Private Practice in 2020 by the Pan American Federation of Architects Associations. My work and experience focus on Urban Planning, Design, Architecture, and Socioeconomic Development.

Title: Coordination of complementary tourism supply: the pursuit of profitability in the presence
of a foreign tour operator.

She has a degree in economics from University of La Laguna (1991), a master degree in economic analysis from Autonomous University of Barcelona (1995) and a PhD in economics from University of Barcelona (1998). She works in the fields of tourism economics and economic growth. He has participated in numerous research projects, and has published in Tourism Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Air Transport Management and Tourism Economics, among other journals. She is a member of the Business Institute (IUDE), the Institute for Social Research and Tourism (ISTUR) and the Chair of Tourism at the University of La Laguna. She is head of the research group Economic Analysis of Tourism at the University of La Laguna.

Hsuan Hsuan Chang is a professor of international tourism in the Faculty of Leisure and Recreation Management of Ming Chuan University. She has been actively involved in multidisciplinary behavioural research, covering topics and issues related to International Tourism, Tourism wayfinding behaviour, Tourist Traveling Behaviour, Tourism impact, Tourism development and planning. So far Dr. Chang has been published many papers in SSCI journals such as Tourism Geographies, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Tourism Culture & Communication and also international peer review journals such as World Leisure Journal, Society & Leisure, Asian Journal of Business Research, Journal of Tourism, and etc.

Dr. Kelly La Venture is a prestigious Fulbright Scholar, Fulbright Specialist, author, keynote speaker, Professor to Know in Online MBA Programs in Minnesota, and Associate Professor, College of Business at Bemidji State University.

Dheeraj Sharma is Director, Indian Institute of Management. He has more than twenty years of work experience. He has taught at numerous educational institutions in Europe, Asia, and North America. Prof. Sharma has a doctoral degree in business administration with a major in marketing strategy and a double minor in psychology and quantitative analysis from Louisiana Tech University, USA. He has published more than 150 articles and 10 books

Koustab Ghosh is Associate Professor and Dean Academic Affairs at the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak, Haryana, India. His academic specialisation lies in the discipline of organizational behavior. He has published multiple papers including in FT 50 and A* journals. He serves the editorial review board of prestigious scholarly journals. He has been part of several projects in various fields both in public and private sector organisations. He has conducted training programs for executives and officers in various domains like administrative services, law enforcement agencies, intelligence services, corporate sector, and academia. He is a member of the Academy of Management (AOM) for the tracks of organizational behavior and organization theory.

Mohamed Boukherouk has 20 years in the tourism sector. Previously, he was a travel agency manager and had the task to develop the production and the performance of the travel agency both in cultural tourism and MICE. From 2015, he is professor-researcher of tourism, geography and innovation related to tourism at the Higher School of Technology (Cadi Ayyad University Marrakech, Morocco). He can bring expertise in micro and macro domains related to tourism.

Christina K. Dimitriou is a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) and Certified Online Instructor who has been teaching undergraduate and graduate tourism and hospitality courses for over twenty years in Europe and the United States. She has industry experience in hotels and her research accomplishments include journal articles, book chapters, conference posters and presentations at regional, national and international conferences.

Filareti Kotsi, a recipient of several recognition awards, is a Professor and the Graduate Programs Coordinator at the College of Communication and Media Sciences at the Dubai campus at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. She teaches in the undergraduate and graduate specialization of Tourism and Cultural Communications. Her work has been published in various journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Journal of Destination, Marketing and Management, and Tourism Management Perspectives. Dr. Filareti holds a doctorate in Communication from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (France).

Pınar Barut is doing her PhD in tourism management at the Faculty of Tourism at Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. She is a lecturer at Cyprus Science University in North Cyprus. Her research focuses on “The Effects of the FED’s Monetary Policy on Tourism & Hospitality Stock Returns: Empirical Evidence from Top Tourist Destinations”

Sevim Sezi Karayazi is a Ph.D. candidate at the Urban Systems and Real Estate Unit from the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. She has a background at utilizing location-based data to understand the geospatial relation of urban heritage and people in the context of over/under tourism in historical cities. Her research focuses on “Leveraging Newly Available Big Data for Equal Accessibility of Urban Heritage”.

Paula Tavares de Carvalho is a Hospitality Programs Coordinator, she has been teaching Hospitality Management and she is an executive director in an Agrotourism project. She has a long professional career as a top management executive with experience in multinational companies, involved in multicultural projects at European, Asian, and African markets. Doctor degree in Management, Certificated Trainer, and Researcher at BRU (Business Research Unit) of ISCTE-IUL.

Tasneem Binte Morshed is a Marie-Curie and European Union co-funded Marti-Franques PhD Fellow at Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Spain. Prior to joining the programme, she was teaching Marketing Research and Marketing Analytics as Lecturer at North South University in Bangladesh for two years (May 2019-May 2021). She is currenty working her on research project “Female travelers in the age of social media”. She pursued her MSc degree in Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 2018. She obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree having dual major in Marketing and International Business from North South University, Bangladesh. She has immense research interest in tourism, business analytics, big data, digital marketing, machine learning and consumer behaviour.

Szu Yin Liu is currently is a PhD student at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, China. Her research interests are focused on urban studies, architecture, and festival studies.

Julia M. Warden is an undergraduate student at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States, where she is pursuing degrees in Business Analytics and Film. She is the Treasurer of the Themed Entertainment Association at Notre Dame and looking to expand her experience in the industry internationally. Her research focuses on East Asian theme parks and intellectual properties and cross-cultural connections with American brands.

Professor Yasuhiro Watanabe is the head of the Tourism, Hospitality and Entertainment Business Programme at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan. Before entering the academia, Watanabe served in the tourism business for over fifteen years. For his rich experience in business, he is also a constant speaker at various industry meetings and seminars and is one of the few Japanese researchers that can link the academia with the real world. Professor Watanabe’s recent book on tour guiding (“How to Become a Top Tour Guide”, published 2020 in Japanese) is still the best seller.

Dr. Chemli has more than 16 years of international teaching and research experience in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Prior to her current role with the University of Deusto (Spain), she was the Director of Graduate Programs in Hospitality and Tourism, and Head of the Academic Committee (Woosong University, South Korea); Associate Professor and Director of the Master in Hospitality and Tourism (University of la Manouba, Tunisia); and Guest Professor (University College Birmingham, UK).

She is also an expert in Hospitality and Tourism, with extensive experience and a consistent track record of leading companies, managing cross-business teams, providing leadership and consulting services.

Willy Engelbrecht (Ph.D) is the Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies at The Independent Institute of Education situated in South Africa. Willy is an active researcher and focuses on topics related to tourism, supply chain, educational management and leadership, higher education, and management.

Iva has experience in using a variety of interdisciplinary methods and approaches in her research work, as evidenced by more than 30 publications (papers and books). Iva has over 10 years of teaching and mentoring activities at all levels.
Areas of interest: Sustainable Tourism Management, Tourists Satisfaction, Destination Management, Tourism Marketing, Aviation and Tourism

James Hanrahan (BA, MSc, PhD) has worked as a tour guide, tour operator, tourism manager, tourism entrepreneur, tourism consultant and lecturer in Ireland, New Zealand, Hawaii, Bulgaria, California, and Britain. He is currently a lecturer in Tourism Management in the School of Business and Social Science at ATU Sligo and he continues to work for the public and private sectors in tourism planning and development. He has a key set of publications related to sustainable destination management and an established track record in research supervision at PhD level.

Natnisha Kongtaveesawas (PhD. Candidate, Technopreneurship and Innovation Management, Graduate School Chulalongkorn University, Thailand). With more than 18 years of Tourism and Hospitality experience, now the Ms.Natnisha has shifted her career into Head of Corporate Talent Development & Management. Her research interest has been focused mainly on Wellness Tourism.

Ph.D. candidate in Department of Marketing and Tourism Management,National Chiayi University, Taiwan. His research interests include tourism management, leisure management and tourists’ behavior management.

Anita has worked across a broad spectrum of the tourism industry and developed a keen interest in sustainable destination management to mitigate climate change.

Anita graduated from ITSligo with a first-class BSc (Hons) in Tourism with Event Management and is currently completing her doctoral research project at ATU Sligo.

The project aims to generate baseline findings on Irish tourism emissions to enable tourism policymakers and planners to establish evidence-based decarbonisation strategies.