The Emerging Scholar of Distinction was initiated in 2009 to recognize of the important contributions that young scholars are making to the study of tourism, and with the belief that they soon will be invited to join the Academy.  This award includes an invitation to participate in the biannual Academy Conference wherein they are recognized for excellence in research; additionally, they are asked to present their work, meet with Academy Fellows, and discuss the pressing issues of the day.

Below are the Emerging Scholars and their affiliations when the awards were given:

2009
Andreas Papatheodorou (University of the Aegean)
James F. Petrick (Texas A&M University)
Jaume Rosselló (University of The Balearic Islands)
Honggen Xiao  (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

2011
Susanne Becken (Lincoln University)
Ulrike Gretzel  (Texas A&M University)

2013
Albert Assaf (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
Scott Cohen (University of Surrey)
Xiang (Robert) Li (University of South Carolina)

2015
Muchazondida Mkono (University of Queensland)
Robin Nunkoo (University of Mauritius)
Zheng (Phil) Xiang (Virginia Tech)

2017
Carla Barbieri (North Carolina State University)
Jennifer Laing (La Trobe University)
Haywantee Ramkissoon (Curtin University)

2019
Sangwon Park (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Dan Wang (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Yang Yang (Temple University)

Commendation for Emerging Scholarship in Tourism 2019
Sebastian Filep (University of Otago)
Ulrich Gunter (MODUL University Vienna)
Neelu Seetaram (University of Huddersfield)

2021
Mingming Cheng (Curtin University)
Xiaoxiao Fu (University of Central Florida)
Vincent Tung (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)