President's Message

Dear Fellows

It is the beginning of a time of change for the Academy.

Our 2011 Taiwan conference "Building Interdisciplinary Bridges in Tourism Research" was a success. We enjoyed excellent hospitality in Taipei and in Chiayi. Forty-two Fellows attended the conference and twenty five gave papers. We had ten nominees with us from six different countries and two emerging scholars who presented their cutting edge research and will be working on a paper together bridging their research areas. About twenty scholars from Taiwanese universities also joined us for sessions. The networking that took place among these various groups was inspiring to see, and I know that many research projects were born, and friendships made. 

Larry sent out a ballot for your vote on each of the ten nominees to the Academy. He also chaired a committee to identify changes and improvements to the nomination process and a ballot to change that section of the Bylaws will arrive in your email inbox soon. Thank you to Larry for your hard work in overseeing and streamlining the nominations process. 

Changes are coming at the Executive level also. Since myself and the Executive Committee have now completed two terms in office, a new slate of officers has been created by the Nominations committee chaired by Rick Perdue and will also be sent to you for a vote soon. So please expect three ballots in the weeks ahead and remember that voting is a requirement for all Fellows to remain in the Academy. 

In line with the Executive Committee's belief that the Academy should in some way be more connected and give back to society, four committees worked hard during the conference towards this goal. They were the Outreach Committee chaired by Bob McKercher, the Education Committee chaired by Brian King, the Tourism Experts without Borders Committee chaired by Dimitrios Buhalis, and the Affiliations with other Institutions committee chaired by Jafar Jafari. While the committees did not have time to define specific actions for the Academy to take yet, brainstorming took place and the ground work was laid for future action. Work will continue in the weeks ahead to define some actionable goals for the Academy in these four areas. Thank you to the Committee Chairs for your hard work. 

Dan Fesenmaier and Gianna Moscardo are editing the book from this conference and will be in touch with authors soon. If you did not submit your paper to the book, Geoffrey Crouch will welcome any papers for possible publication in Tourism Analysis. They will of course have to go through the usual review process. 

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the conference, particularly our local host Professor T. C. Huan, our Conference Chair Julio Aramberri who crafted the program, Cathy Hsu who served as our local liaison, Haiyan Song our Treasurer, and Kaye Chon, Leslie Fung and GJ Woo at the Secretariat. I would also like to thank Rick Perdue who as Chairman of the Board was MC for the Wine and Cheese evening, and who at the end of this year will complete twelve years in an Executive capacity for the Academy. He has been extremely helpful to the Executive over the last four years lending wise words at critical moments. Thank you Rick.

We missed those you who were unable to attend the Taiwan Conference, but very much look forward to seeing you in The Algarve, Portugal at the beginning of June 2013. 

With very best wishes

Pauline
psheldon@hawaii.edu

Photo library for the 11th Biennial Academy conference in Taiwan

• Chiayi
• Taipei
• Academy Conference