KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

MOHAMED REDA - DESTINOS INTELIGENTES ENTRE UTOPÍA Y REALIDAD

Mohamed Reda Khomsi is a Professor of Tourism Governance and E-Tourism at the Department of Urban Studies and Tourism in the School of Management at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada. His research focuses on smart destinations, online distribution, governance models, and the role of IA in improving tourist access. Mohamed is the author of over a dozen articles and book chapters on these topics. He is currently investigating various examples of smart cities and smart destinations in Canada with the aim to highlight the particular features of the Canadian model.

XAVIER FONT - The marketing and communication of sustainability practices

Dr Xavier Font is professor of sustainability marketing at the University of Surrey. He has specialised in helping small tourism and hospitality firms on how to market and communicate their sustainability actions, and how to develop more customer-relevant sustainable tourism products. He has run over 130 workshops for more than 2500 businesses on sustainability marketing, across several countries. He has worked for four United Nations agencies, several tourist boards and international travel associations and businesses.

BARBARA NEUHOFER - Smart Travel experiences in the Age of Transformation

FH-Prof. Dr. Barbara Neuhofer is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Experience Design at the Department of Innovation and Management in Tourism at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Before her current role, Barbara was working as a Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality Management at Bournemouth University, UK. Barbara's research focuses on the experience and transformation economy. She researches, writes and speaks about customer experience design and how digital and smart technologies shape the way we co-create human-centred, transformative and memorable experiences across the tourism and service sectors. Barbara has authored more than 25 publications on tourism experiences, has served on the board of directors of IFITT and has received several international research prizes and best paper awards.

DIMITRIOS BUHALIS - Smart Tourism: from evolution to revolution

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is Head of Department Tourism and Hospitality, Director of the eTourism Lab and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, at Bournemouth University in England.

He is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries. His research area is cutting across a number of disciplines and is looking into adoption of innovations for creating value for both consumers and organisations. Current research focus includes Smart Tourism, SoCoMo Marketing (Social media Context and Mobile Marketing), Augmented Reality, Experience management and Personalisation, Reputation and Social Media Strategies, Accessible and Special Diet (Alergens) Tourism.

Close collaboration with industry, governments and international organisations from around the world ensures that results have relevance and impact in the real world whilst constantly pushing the boundaries of knowledge and academic excellence. Dimitrios is also the immediate past President of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT).