Keynote Speakers
Plenary Session 1: Metaverse and Artificial Developments Towards Smart Tourism
Dimitrios Buhalis, PhD | Bournemouth University, UK
Biographical note:
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries. He is Director of the eTourism Lab and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, at Bournemouth University Business School in England. He was recently Visiting Professor at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University SAR, China. He is the Editor in Chief of the most established Journal in Tourism: Tourism Review, and the Editor in Chief of the Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. His research pioneers smart and ambient intelligence tourism with a particular focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and destination ecosystems management. Professor Buhalis has written and co-edited more than 25 books and 400 scientific articles.
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Plenary Session 2: How to Become an Impactful Academic
Fevzi Okumus, PhD | University of Central Florida, Rosen College of Hospitality
Nota Biográfica:
Professor Fevzi Okumus is the Pegasus Professor and the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association (CFHLA) Preeminent Chair Professor within the Hospitality Services Department at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He was the Founding Chair of the Hospitality Services Department at UCF Rosen College. His main teaching and research areas include strategic management, leadership, hospitality management, services marketing, training, and lodging. He has served on and chaired/co-chaired numerous PhD dissertation and master thesis committees. He has over 330 academic publications (over 220 refereed journal articles, seven books, 12 book chapters, and 90 conference presentations and reports). As of March 31st,2025, his publications have received 31,208 citations, and he has an h-index of 80. Prof. Okumus has been recognized as a “Highly Cited Researcher” in 2021; 2022; 2023 and 2024 by Clarivate, based on data from the Web of Science. Highly Cited Researchers™ are 1 in 1,000 of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM) (Impact Factor: 9.10) and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights (JHTI) (Impact Factor: 4.80). He is also the Founding Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Horizons (JHTH), which has been recently launched in January 2025. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences. He has received numerous prestigious research awards and recognitions including “The Michael D. Olsen Research Award” in 2016; “The University of Central Florida Scroll & Quill Society Award” in 2017, the “CFHLA Preeminent Professor” again in 2017, and the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award from ICHRIE in 2018. Recently, Prof. Okumus has received the “Pegasus Professor” award at the University of Central Florida, which is the highest honor for a faculty member at his current university.
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