Source: School of Tourism Management
Written by: School of Tourism Management
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Organized by the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST), co-organized by the School of Tourism Management (STM) of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), the 15th Biennial Conference of IAST was successfully held on May 21-25, 2017 at the Guangzhou South Campus of SYSU.

More than 60 world's top researchers in tourism industry from University of California, Temple University, the University of Surrey, Bournemouth University, Ryerson University, Paris 1 Sorbonne University, Griffith University, the University of Queensland, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Sun Yat-sen University, etc attended the conference. Tourism Geography expert Prof. Geoffrey Wall, Tourism Anthropology expert Prof. Nelson Graburn, International top journal Tourism Management Chief Editor Prof. Chris Ryan, Ex Chief Editor of Annals of Tourism Research Prof. Jafar Jafari and other internationally well-known professors as well as Fellows of the IAST participated in this conference. 
 

Group photo of participants of the 15th Biennial Conference of IAST
 

Mr. DU Jiang, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration, Mr. MEI Qijie, Deputy Director of Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau, and Prof. WANG Xuehua, Vice President of SYSU, delivered a speech respectively at the opening ceremony. More than 10 media companies including the Xinhua News Agency, Today's Headlines, Nanfang Daily reported this event.

As one of the three Fellows of the IAST from mainland China, Prof. BAO Jigang, Dean of the Graduate School of SYSU and Dean of STM, was invited to deliver a panel session speech, along with Prof. XU Honggang, Prof. ZHANG Chaozhi, Prof. LUO Qiuju and Dr. LIU Yi from STM, and Associate Professor WU Chenguang from Sun Yat-sen Business School.

This conference is a reunion of the top researchers and best emerging scholars all over the world. It provides a platform for international and Chinese scholars to exchange their experiences and ideas, as well as a precious opportunity for young scholars in tourism industry to learn from the distinguished experts in the world. The event will promote the establishment of an international level network for STM.