In August 2026, David Airey, Sara Dolnicar and Christian Laesser attended the 75th Conference
of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST). Christian Laesser has served for many
years as AIEST’s General Secretary. To celebrate the anniversary, the conference was organised by the University
of St Gallen in Switzerland, where AIEST was founded in 1951. AIEST is the oldest association of its kind in the
world. The meeting focused on ‘Tourism Definition(s) Revisited’. Alongside keynote speeches, paper presentations
and technical visits, participants took part in a consensus session to examine the adequacy of the definitions
used in tourism. The conclusions will be announced later.
At the 75th AIEST Conference in St Gallen, August 2026.
Dimitrios Buhalis
New Journal
Dimitrios Buhalis has launched Tourism Marketing and Strategy (TMAS) as its Founding
Editor-in-Chief and welcomes contributions from Academy members. https://www.emerald.com/tmas
Da Nang, Vietnam, 16–19 December 2026: 4th World Conference on Smart Tourism (WCST2026), Duy
Tân University. https://wcst.world/2026/
Conference Organisation Activities
Malta, 24–27 November 2026: Mediterranean Tourism Forum and Research Conference, including the
research writing retreat, future talent competition and hackathon. The programme includes:
Mediterranean Tourism Research Conference: academic conference sessions on 25–26 November 2026,
within the overall 24–27 November programme. https://mediterraneantourismresearch.com/
Aveiro, Portugal, 20–22 April 2027: INVTUR 2027 & Culturality International Conferences. https://www.ua.pt/en/invtur/
Tokyo, Japan, 22–25 July 2027: Global Marketing Conference 2027, Tourism and Hospitality
Marketing in the AI and Robotic Era Track. https://2027gmc.imweb.me/index
Richard Butler
Journal Article
Fennell, D., Guo, Y., & Butler, R. (2025). Understanding tourists’
perceptions of animal welfare, governance, and conservation: Evidence from the Panda Base. Animals,
15(24), 3548. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15243548
Book
Isaac, R. K., Çakmak, E., & Butler, R. (2026). The Possible, Probable
and Preferable Futures of Tourism Destination Management. Routledge.
Book Chapter
Dodds, R., & Butler, R. W. (2026). Sustainable family travel: How children can
help. In H. Schänzel, C. Khoo, & M. J. H. Yang (Eds.), Handbook on Children and Family Tourism. Edward
Elgar.
Simon Darcy
Award
Simon Darcy, Tracey Dickson and Stephen Schweinsberg received the Academic Research award in
the 2026 Travel Unity Awards, which recognise work advancing inclusive practices in travel. https://www.travelunity.org/2026awards/
The work grew from a project co-designed with the disability community in collaboration with a
government agency to inform policy and practice. Simon Darcy particularly values recognition from Travel Unity, an
alliance including major US destination marketing organisations, industry associations and two US universities,
for research that supports change. The award application also linked to the agency’s current accessibility policy,
infrastructure and digital accessibility improvements, and online implementation, demonstrating the work’s
sustained impact.
Related Research and Resources
Dickson, T. J., & Darcy, S. (2021). NSW National Parks and Wildlife
Service Accessible Parks Policy Stakeholder Workshops: Confidential Final Report. University of Canberra.
Tracey Dickson and Simon Darcy shared the project’s process internationally at the Canada Parks
Accessibility Conference 2022. Presentation, Day 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORrz54MMlzk
Alan Fyall, Visit Orlando Endowed Chair of Tourism Marketing at the University of Central
Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, is one of eight faculty members recognised with a 2026 UCF
Luminary Award. The award honours his tourism scholarship and its impact beyond academia, including research on
accessible tourism through mega-events, residents’ well-being, coastal destinations’ vulnerability to climate
disruption, tourism resilience and destination development.
Alan Fyall’s publications include eight books and 105 peer-reviewed journal articles, with
expertise featured in The New York Times, USA Today and Forbes. His research and consulting span Africa, Asia,
Europe, the Caribbean and the United States. He teaches International Tourism Management, previously served as
associate dean of academic affairs, and is founding editor of the Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management. An IAST Fellow, he also serves on the United Nations Pool of Experts for Global Reporting on
the State of the Marine Environment.
Through UCF’s Sustainable Coastal Systems cluster, Alan Fyall connects tourism research with
coastal communities’ environmental, economic and social challenges. His international perspective also informs
teaching and professional practice, helping students and colleagues understand sustainability, changing visitor
expectations and the future of hospitality and tourism. https://hospitality.ucf.edu/news/rosen-college-professor-alan-fyall-honored-with-ucf-luminary-award/
Ulrike Gretzel
Journal Articles
Zarezadeh, Z., & Gretzel, U. (2027). From influence to empowerment:
Unpacking capacity building and social learning in virtual communities. Tourism Management, 119, 105541.
Pacheco, D. C., da Silva, O. D. L., de Serpa Arruda, A. I. D., & Gretzel,
U. (2026). It’s hard to live in a tourist city: Explaining residents’ responses to tourism pressure through stress
and self-efficacy. Cities, 179, 107419.
Pacheco, D. C., da Silva, O. D. L., de Serpa Arruda, A. I. D., Li, L., &
Gretzel, U. (2026). The robot hotel paradox: Why guest satisfaction may not translate into
revisit intention. Tourism & Management Studies, 22(SI), 1–16.
Lee, Y., & Gretzel, U. (2026). TechTalk interview: Dimitrios Buhalis,
Cihan Cobanoglu, Raghav Rao, Zheng Xiang, and Chulmo Koo ‘The Role of AI and its Impact in Smart Tourism’.
Journal of Smart Tourism, 27652157261460942.
Book
Kavoura, A., Gretzel, U., & Vrana, V. (Eds.). (2026). Strategic
Innovative Marketing and Tourism: Navigating Global Trends and Managing Challenges—12th ICSIMAT, Olympus
Riviera, Greece, 2025. Springer Nature.
Guest Editorships
Cheah, C. W., Cheah, J. H., Gretzel, U., Koay, K. Y., & Xiang, K. (2026).
Human and virtual influencer marketing in hospitality and tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 66, 101380.
Kim, J., Jang, S., Gretzel, U., & Koo, C. (2026). Special issue on ‘Smart
tourism 2.0: Perspectives with geospatial data and AI’. Electronic Markets, 36(1), 3.
Metin Kozak
Conference Attendance
Metin Kozak attended the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Fall Conference at the University of
Bremen, Germany, on 16–18 September 2026. It was his first in-person attendance after years of reviewing and
co-authoring conference papers. He presented findings from a TÜBİTAK-funded project on language–content fit in
multilingual user-generated content. The study compared Spanish and English comments on music videos, examining
differences in length, depth and meaning. It found that users expressed deeper emotions and engaged more
consistently in their native language, with particular attention to cultural elements.
Guest Lectures
In late September 2026, Metin Kozak visited Lithuania through the Erasmus Exchange Programme.
He taught three courses on branding, organisational communication and research methods to bachelor’s and master’s
students in the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Kaunas
University of Technology.
Under the EU’s Erasmus+ KA171 programme, Metin Kozak spent a week as a guest scholar at North
Eastern Hill University (NEHU), India, in June 2026. He engaged with MBA and PhD students, faculty members and the
Vice-Chancellor, delivering lectures on scholarly research, academic writing and marketing.
Journal Articles
Aktymbayeva, A., Beisekenov, N., Kozak, M., Seitkazy, M., Taukebayeva, M.,
Serzhanuly, D., Nuruly, Y., & Sapiyeva, A. (2026). Sustainable lake-resort tourism under water-quality
constraints: An integrated monitoring carrying capacity framework for destination management. Tourism
Recreation Research.https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2026.2714508
Kaurav, R. P. S., Kainthola, S., Rana, S., & Kozak, M. (2026). Unveiling
trends and gaps in tourist crowding literature with a roadmap for the future. Tourism Planning &
Development, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2026.2698868
Sop, S. A., Günaydın, Y., & Kozak, M. (2026). Unveiling the value of
tourist-to-tourist interaction in all-inclusive hotels: A stimulus-organism-response model. Journal of Travel
& Tourism Marketing, 43(5), 639–654. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2026.2679969
Başer, M. Y., Kozak, M., & Erdoğan, I. H. (2026). Firm characteristics and
Industry 4.0 adoption: A study on hotel businesses. Tourism, 74(3), 374–393. https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/file/502074
Guest Editorial
Metin Kozak co-edited a special issue of Current Issues in Tourism on the future of
the tourism profession with Antonia Correia. The project took nearly two years, attracting more than 50
submissions, of which 18 were accepted. Published across two issues and organised into four thematic sections, the
papers examine tourism and hospitality sub-sectors, assess the profession’s current challenges, and offer
recommendations for turning potential threats into opportunities. The details are shown in:
Gang Li has been elected to the Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK. He is
the fifth IAST Fellow to receive this fellowship, joining David Airey, Allan Williams, John Tribe and Marina
Novelli. https://acss.org.uk/professor-gang-li/
Project
Gang Li, Allan Williams and their University of Surrey colleagues Jason Chen (Principal
Investigator) and Eden Jiao were commissioned by VisitBritain to conduct an independent review of the methodology
underpinning national domestic tourism statistics in the UK.
Journal Articles
Hu, R., Chen, J. L., Li, G., & Qin, Y. (2027). Impacts of tourism
development on residents’ quality of life: A dual spillover perspective. Tourism Management, 119, 105524.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2026.105524
Wu, D. C., Zhang, P., Wu, J., Li, G., & Hu, M. (2027). Multi-agent
collaboration strategies for tourism demand forecasting. Tourism Management, 118, 105479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2026.105479
Song, H., Li, G., & Wu, D. C. (2026). A review of the second tourism
forecasting competition for post-pandemic recovery. Annals of Tourism Research, 119, 104207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2026.104207
Qin, Y., Li, G., Lin, V. S., & Wu, D. C. (2026). The asymmetric and
nonlinear effects of multi-dimensional distance on international tourism demand. Journal of Travel
Research.https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875261434202
Janne Liburd
Open Peer Review
Janne Liburd shares an alternative approach to journal editing and peer review under pressure.
Her article, ‘Co-designed citizen science insights for geoscientists: making sense of complex relations’,
co-authored with Scandinavian meteorologists and modellers, has been accepted for posting on EGUsphere, the
not-for-profit open scientific repository of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). Following the editor’s request
for minor revisions, the paper entered open peer review for potential publication in Geoscience
Communication, with a public discussion period of less than two months. It has a registered DOI and is
available as a preprint: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5504
Janne Liburd warmly invites colleagues with shared interests to comment and help strengthen the
manuscript, even though its topic extends beyond tourism.
Chris Ryan attended the 12th International Conference on Tourism and Hospitality (ICTOH) in
June 2026, hosted by Siam University at the Ambassador Hotel. Invited by Associate Professor Bongkosh
Rittichainuwat, Dean of the International College, Siam University, he received a lifetime achievement award
recognising his legacy of mentoring doctoral students.
He subsequently returned to the University of Waikato, where he helped select students and
staff for the new doctoral programme in tourism management, established under New Zealand regulations at the joint
institute of Shandong University and the University of Waikato on Shandong University’s Weihai campus.
In September, Chris Ryan returned to China to give presentations at Sun Yat-sen University’s
Zhuhai campus and Beijing Union University. He met former doctoral students and colleagues from other Chinese
universities, including Professor Chin Ee Ong of the Macao University of Tourism and Dean from South China Normal
University and his family who last visited Waikato a decade earlier, were they joined a research methods class
taught by Chris. The main purpose of the visit was to join Associate Professor Zhang Xiaoyu for the launch of
their latest book on Cao Xueqin at the 17th Arts Festival, hosted by the Cao Xueqin Research Centre at the
Memorial Hall in Beijing’s Western Hills.
Book
Ryan, C., Wei, L., & Zhang, X. (2026). Cao Xueqin: His Life, Times and
Influence. Mary Egon Publishing.
Journal Articles
Zhang, X., Wong, C. U. I., Ryan, C., & Yu, H. (2026). Culture seekers,
pilgrims, and sightseers at a site of folkloric practices: Why different visitors share similar perceptions of
place. International Journal of Tourism Research, 28(5), e70409. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.70409
Pan, Y., Liu, Y., Liu, Z., Ryan, C., & Wang, Y. (2026). Home culture
connectedness and travel anxiety reduction among Chinese outbound tourists. Journal of Destination Marketing
& Management, 41, 101099.
Pan, Y., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., & Ryan, C. (2026). How does global-local
identity affect preference between authentic destination experiences and home culture connectedness? Tourism
Management, 117, 105454.
Zhou, B., Wu, Y., Yu, H., Xiong, Q., & Ryan, C. (2026). Does expressway
congestion affect tourists’ intention for holiday self-drive trips? Evidence from a mixed-methods study. Acta
Psychologica, 262, 106109.
Muzzo Uysal
Journal Articles
Cao, Y., Assaf, A. G., Lee, S., & Uysal, M. (2026). Managerial ability as
a moderator of the curvilinear ESG–performance relationship. International Journal of Hospitality Management,
139, 104758. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104758
Cinar, S., Sivuk, D., Wang, J., & Uysal, M. (2026). Medical tourism
determinants and satisfaction: A case of Turkiye. Tourism and Hospitality Management, 32(3), I–XII. https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.32.3.10
Kadirhan, G., Çavuş, A., & Uysal, M. (2026). Faith tourism in Turkey:
Place attachment, quality of life, and length of residency: A two-tiered model testing approach. Current
Issues in Tourism, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2026.2669629
Topsakal, Y., Yüzbaşıoğlu, N., & Uysal, M. (2026). Trusting the robot
waiter: What drives consumers’ acceptance of restaurant service robots? International Journal of Consumer
Studies, 50(4), e70232. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.70232
Wang, J., Cinar, S., Sivuk, D., & Uysal, M. (2026). A cross-cultural
comparison of medical tourists’ preferences: A case of Turkiye. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality
& Tourism, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2026.2632192
Wang, J., Onder, I., Liang, Y., & Uysal, M. (2026). Designing smart menus:
A multi-method exploration of AI integration in hospitality guest experience and operations. International
Journal of Hospitality Management, 139, 104777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104777
Book Chapters
Uysal, M. (2026). Critical discourses in cultural-heritage tourism:
Accessibility and inclusion as a catalyst for human well-being. In M. Şeker & K. Çınar (Eds.), Inclusion
in the Cultural Heritage Sector (pp. 15–33). Turkish Academy of Sciences Publications.
Wang, J., Berbekova, A., & Uysal, M. (2026). The role of sustainability
and quality of life: Enhancing competitiveness of SMEs. In F. Okumus, A. E. Pérez Brito, A. F. Chim-Miki, & M.
I. Bojórquez Zapata (Eds.), Competitiveness of SMEs in Hospitality and Tourism: A Multidisciplinary
Approach. Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83742-496-220261002
Invited Presentations
Muzzo Uysal delivered the keynote ‘The Human-Centered Approach and Design’ at the 26th National
Tourism Conference in Sirnak, Turkiye, on 8–11 October 2026.
Muzzo Uysal delivered the keynote ‘Redefining Tourism: The Human-Centered Approach and Design
(HCAD)’ at the 10th International Association for Tourism Economics (IATE) Conference in Palermo, Italy, on 21–26
June 2026.
