President's Message

Dear Fellows:

I am very much looking forward to the 2024 Academy Conference, starting from Tuesday, May 14 to Friday, May 17 held at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida (USA). The overall theme for the 2024 Academy Conference will be “Transformational Tourism in Disruptive Times”.

With its origins dating back to the late 1830s and the height of the Seminole Wars, Orlando was incorporated in 1875 with it growing steadily over the next century from being the hub of Florida’s citrus industry to a high-tech center for the nearby Cape Canaveral NASA aerospace complex in the 1950s to what it is today, a global mega-destination attracting more than 75 million visitors in pre-pandemic 2019. The catalyst for its tourism growth was the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971, closely followed by International Drive in 1972, SeaWorld in 1973, the Orange County Convention Center in 1983, and Universal Orlando more recently in 1990. Orlando serves as an ideal location to explore modern mass-tourism growth, current and future disruptive challenges to be faced, and those transformational opportunities that lie ahead as it navigates the roller-coaster ride of global tourism change.

In this context, the 2024 Academy Conference will take place with our collective purpose being to identify basic 'principles' that might 'guide' tourism research in the future to positively affect the future of tourism. With this vision for the Conference, the first day will feature research by Academy Fellows and invited North American scholars focusing on the forces of change and their impact on tourism futures. The second day will introduce Fellows to the increasingly diverse tourist offer Orlando has to offer, with visits to its less-touristic neighborhoods, its revitalized Downtown and truly world-class theatres and sporting arenas, before visiting one of its world-leading theme parks to savor the more traditional Orlando experience. The third and fourth days will continue with research by Academy Fellows, Invited Guest Scholars, and Emerging Scholars while discussing how the Academy might play a more impactful role in transforming tourism.

I want to remind you of the opportunity to present your research and/or participate in one of the several panel discussions. Please submit an abstract (including title, author(s), and text up to 300 words) for the proposed research presentation to the Program Chair, Prof. Daniel Fesenmaier (daniel.fesenmaier@modul.ac.at), by January 31, 2024.

Fellows may be anxious to know the result of the Invited Guest Scholars and Emerging Scholars. In this round, we have received 23 submissions. After a vigorous vetting process with committee members Heather Gibson, Scott McCabe, Egon Smeral, Honggang Xu, and 2nd Vice President Alan Fyall, I am pleased to announce the names of the 14 Invited Guest Scholars (in last name alphabetical order): Antonia Correia, Simon Darcy, Rachel Dodds, David Fennell, Huimin Gu, Adele Ladkin, Janne Liburd, Robin Nunkoo, James Petrick, Jillian Rickly, Regina Scheyvens, Daniel Scott, Doris Chenguang Wu, and ZHANG Chaozhi. The committee also assessed 8 applications of Emerging Scholars Award and the 5 accepted Emerging Scholars are Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong, Daisy Fan, Apisalome Movono, Courtney Suess-Raeisinafchi, and Wei Wei. We are still receiving their replies if they will attend the Academy Conference. I would like to thank the committee for its efforts and also thank all Fellows who nominated candidates. We have an outstanding group of Invited Scholars and Emerging Scholars, who will certainly make a strong contribution to our upcoming conference.

Prof. Karl Wöber