Organized by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in collaboration with its Hospitality and Tourism Research Centre, School of Tourism Management (STM) of Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU) and Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM), the Smart Tourism in the Greater Bay Area Forum will take place in Hong Kong on 21 May 2021.

Held in both virtual and in-person format at the SHTM, the forum takes the theme “Big Data, AI and Ecosystem”.

New technologies have been evolving very fast in the hospitality and tourism industry, which drive product innovations and connect various tourism stakeholders in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). With the GBA now becoming a “field of experiment” in cross-border integration and smart tourism development, researchers, practitioners and policymakers are paying greater attention to smart tourism with a view to maximizing the socio-economic benefits of tourism and to enhancing the competitiveness of the region as an international destination.

Aiming at connecting theory and practice for smart tourism development in the GBA, the forum will provide a platform on which hospitality and tourism stakeholders can share and exchange ideas, experiences and strategies relating to smart tourism, thereby promoting technology and knowledge spillovers across borders in the GBA.

 

A broad range of topics will be covered in the forum’s keynote presentations and panel discussions as follows:

  • Emerging Issues in the GBA Tourism
  • Information and Technology Development and Smart Tourism in the GBA
  • Big Data and Its Ecosystem
  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Immersive Technologies (Artificial Reality/Virtual Reality)
  • Cross-border Regional Tourism Planning and Development
  • Other papers related to the theme of the forum

The forum will feature prominent scholars, leading researchers and industry experts from around the world, including:

  • Prof Dimitrios Buhalis, Director of eTourism Research Lab, International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, Bournemouth University
  • Mr Vallois Choi, Director of Digital Marketing Strategy, Hotel ICON
  • Prof Leonardo Anthony Najarro Dioko, Professor, IFTM and Director of Tourism Research Centre
  • Mr Steve Hood, Senior Vice President of Research for STR and Founding Director, SHARE Center
  • Dr Yuzhou Huang, General Manager, Strategy and Development Department, Fliggy Travel
  • Ms Haena Kim, Director of Education, WildChina
  • Dr Yi Liu, Associate Professor, STM, SYSU
  • Dr Jason Ni, Executive Director, Wynn Palace, Macau
  • Prof Sangwon Park, Professor, College of Hotel and Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University
  • Dr Shanshan Qi, Invited Assistant Professor, IFTM
  • Prof Haiyan Song, Associate Dean, Chair Professor and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism, SHTM, PolyU
  • Dr Fanny Vong, President of Macao Institute for Tourism Studies
  • Dr Dan Wang, Associate Professor, SHTM
  • Prof Anthony Wong, Professor, STM, SYSU
  • Prof Honggang Xu, Dean and Professor, STM, SYSU
  • Dr Yang Xu, Assistant Professor, Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, PolyU

For registration, please visit www.smarttourismgba.com. Early-bird registration rate is available until 30 April 2021.

For enquiries, please contact [email protected].