President's Message

Summer is upon us and it is time for some to relax, some to work hard and those in the southern hemisphere to enjoy the winter.

It has been a busy few months for the Academy. To begin, I would like to thank all those who voted on the proposed revisions to the bylaws.  The proposals were endorsed by 95% of Fellows who cast votes. The new bylaws will lead to a better administrative structure for the Academy.

In addition, the bylaw changes endorsed a two tier member category. Fellows will have full voting rights and be expected to be active members in the Academy. Fellows Emeritus/a will continue to be recognized for their contributions to the field of tourism, but will not be expected to be active in the Academy. This means they will not have to pay dues, and also will not have voting rights.

The changes will be introduced at the start of the next fiscal year. We will be asking all current Fellows Emeritus/a if they wish to retain they status as Emeritus Fellows or change back to active Fellow status again. The choice will be yours.

These changes will open many spaces for new Academy members. At present, it looks like we have only about 50 truly active Fellows. The plan is to encourage many potential new fellows to attend the upcoming Bali Conference and to begin the process of revitalizing the Academy.

The conference organization is progressing as planned. Dimitrios should be able to give us an update soon.

News Flash: The Academy conducted a number of video interviews with Fellows at the Guangzhou Conference. A draft set of videos is finally available at: https://polyuit-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/smingkong_polyu_edu_hk/EkPdqJ1HUhdCixfYPSk3TRwB4qM1WeJx_lSj5yWtwUPqKA?e=qBzCF7.

Fellows are encouraged to look at their and other videos and give feedback before we roll them out progressively this coming autumn.

Bob
bob.mckercher@polyu.edu.hk