The University of Macau (UM) said in a recent statement that it held an inauguration ceremony for the China Tourism Education-cum-Inaugural Frontiers in Hospitality and Tourism Annual Research Symposium on Friday, with the alliance started by UM, Fudan University, Nankai University, and Sun Yat-sen University.
The event was held online and offline and had over 250 participants ranging from researchers, top management team members and students from the hospitality and tourism management sectors worldwide, according to the public university.
The statement noted that the alliance aims to “combine the teaching and research strengths of its members in the field of tourism management to nurture tourism professionals and promote exchanges and cooperation in research in the field”.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong, the statement said, presented certificates to the alliance’s four member institutions’ representatives at the ceremony. The inauguration was witnessed online or in-person by UM Rector Yonghua Song (aka Song Yonghua), Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes and China Tourism Academy President Dai Bin, among others.
Meanwhile, the symposium featured keynote speeches and, with a focus on the main theme “Tourism+”, guests at the event held discussions on eight major topics such as “Industry-education Integration in Tourism” and “Data Mining in Tourism”. The statement said that experts and scholars also provided new ideas for digital tourism, online tourism and smart tourism.
The statement added that UM’s Faculty of Business Administration’s (FBA) Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management, which is the symposium’s co-organiser and alliance member, intends to make the symposium an annual tourism event that can offer “unique insights and rich academic experiences” for participants.
The statement said that the department also hoped to highlight “dynamic topics of contemporary relevance for the academic community of tourism” through the symposium. Moreover, it aims to serve as a communication platform between universities and enterprises and promote industry-academia collaborations in the hospitality and tourism management field, the statement noted.
This handout photo provided by the University of Macau (UM) shows Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong (third from right) presenting certificates to representatives of the four member institutions of the alliance, including UM Rector
Yonghua Song (fourth from right) on the UM campus in Hengqin on Friday.
