Recently, two major international scholars, Prof. Carson Jenkins of the University of Strathclyde and Prof. John Crompton of the Texas A&M University were invited by the College of Tourism and Service Management to hold academic lectures that are feasts to the teachers and students of the whole college.
Prof. Carson Jenkins and Prof. John Crompton are top scholars in the field of international tourism research, which have made a fundamental contribution and tremendous influence to the development of the tourism discipline. The two lectures were presided over by the Dean, Prof. Qiu Hanqin. Teachers, postgraduates, doctoral candidates and some undergraduates attended the lecture.
On the morning of April 9th, Prof. Carson Jenkins gave a lecture entitled “Changes in International Tourism Development (1950-2016) and the Role of the Government in the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ Advocacy and Construction”. There are four aspects: the changes of international tourism development, the international organizations stemming from tourism development, the role of government in the tourism development and the impactof “Belt and Road Initiative to the international tourism development”. Prof. Carson Jenkins's report explained the profound in simple terms and cited various authorities. It not only reviews the development history of international tourism, but also proposes new directions and new problems in tourism research by focusing on the latest developments in tourism development.
On the morning of April 10th, Prof. John Crompton elaborated on his own research fields and experiences with the theme over “Tourism Development and Research: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Personal Sense”, which is vivid and humorous. At the beginning of the lecture, he introduced the research he had done from three micro levels of tourism attraction, motivation of leisure tourism and destination orientation, and explained tourists’ choice for tourism destinations from two factors of tourist satisfaction and service quality. Prof. Crompton subsequently introduced his macro research in tourism, explaining the economic returns of the festival activities to the community through case sharing.
During the lecture, the two professors analyzed the development background of tourism in China and its market status. They believed that there are plenty of opportunities and broad development space though the tourism research set in China started relatively late. During the interactive session of the lecture, the two professors had a heated discussion and interaction with the teachers and students of our college, from which everyone benefited a lot.
During the visit, the two professors also steered somepostgraduates’ research subjects, and gave detailed comments on the research plans, research designs and research methods etc. and put forward suggestions for improvement.
This series of lectures enabled the teachers and students to understand the development of the international tourism market and the course of relevant research changes, deepened their cognition to thediscipline, tourism management. Teachers and students were impressed with the outstanding professors’ scientific attitude and style, which further reinforced their faith in working hard to learn knowledge and doing research.
