The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) has a distinct pleasure to invite you, your colleagues or students to submit research to and participate in the IMPACT2024 Conference, which is to be held at Hotel ICON in Hong Kong on 11–13 October 2024. This year, IMPACT2024 will also be held in conjunction with the International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators (ISTTE) annual conference to be held on 14-16 October 2024 at the same venue.

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Aim of the Conference

Hospitality and tourism have been in the era of transformation both digitally and in the way businesses are operated in the industries. To embrace such changes, IMPACT2024 addresses the theme of “Tourism and Hospitality in the Age of Transformation”, aiming to serve as a platform for industry executives, government officials and academics to interact on transformational trends and insights, to share research findings and practices, to explore creative pathways, and to envisage strategies to the end of capitalising on transformation for evidence-based education, research and industry practices. The conference aims to deliver on the following objectives:

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• To explore how industries transform in the age of digitalisation,

• To define what constitutes digital transformation in hospitality and tourism, and assess their implications for education, research and industry practices,

• To nurture communities of learning and practice in response to digital transformation that is taking place in the industries,

• To suggest transformative ways to manage tourism and hospitality businesses in view of the changes in the macro and micro environment, and

• To discuss and suggest transformative education in tourism and hospitality.

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To achieve these objectives, we invite papers on topics that relate but are not limited to:

• Transforming hospitality and tourism for sustainability and resilience

• Digital and metaverse tourism

• Big data and data analytics in hospitality and tourism

• Applications of AI and robotics in the hospitality industry

• Innovation and knowledge management in hospitality and tourism

• Changing practices in the industries

• Capitalising on social media, live streaming and videos in industry practices

• Entrepreneurship in hospitality and tourism

• Luxury experience management

• Emerging tourist behaviours, consumer trends, and marketing/management practices

• New tourism and leisure practices at the juncture of transformation

• Best practices in tourism and hospitality education at the turn of industry transformation

• Addressing challenges in labour shortage in the industries

• Innovation and leadership practices in tourism and hospitality

• Transformative technologies reducing carbon emissions

• Developing and/or managing digital tourism decision support systems

• Tourism as an agency for geopolitical conflict resolutions and for world peace

• Other related topics

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Submission Formats and Presentation Preferences

Submissions will be prepared in APA format, under two categories:

• Extended Abstract: 1,000 (±100) words including title, abstract, keywords, main body, and references, or

• Full Paper: 4,000 (±500) words including title, abstract, keywords, main body, references, and where applicable, figures, tables, and appendices.

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Presentations could be in the form of 1) stand-up oral presentations, or 2) poster presentations.

 

Chinese abstracts/papers will also be considered for presentation at the conference.

 

The IMPACT2024 Best Paper Award(s) will be presented based on full paper reviews.

 

Authors of exceptional papers are also invited to submit their work for publication consideration to the sponsoring journals which include Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of China Tourism Research, and Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing.

 

Please follow the IMPACT2024 Conference Submission Template (see Appendix) and submit your work via EasyChair.

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Important Dates

Submission of extended abstracts/full papers: 1 July 2024

Notification of review result: 1 August 2024

 

 

Presenters and Participants

IMPACT2024 aims to bring together academics, industry practitioners and policymakers, as well as consultants, entrepreneurs and representatives from hospitality and tourism organisations.

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Registration

Accepted authors (or at least one of the co-authors of an accepted paper) should register for the conference to present their research. Early-bird registrations at HK$2,800 will be made available up to 15 August 2024. A standard amount of HK$3,500 will be charged thereafter for all participants.

 

 

Undergraduate Student Research Competition and Awards

In support of the SHTM’s mission to nurture research talents among undergraduate students majoring in tourism and hospitality, competitions will be open to undergraduate students for best paper awards. Recipients of awards will be selected based on reviews or recommendations of their final submissions. Details of the Undergraduate Students Paper Competition are available here.

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Enquiries

Please direct enquiries on IMPACT2024, paper submissions and reviews to:

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Professor Honggen Xiao                       Dr Dagnachew Leta Senbeto

Chair, Call-for-Papers Committee           Chair, Conference Paper Review

 @honggen.xiao@polyu.edu.hk               @dag.senbeto@polyu.edu.hk)