Keynote Speaker

Professor William (Bill) C. Gartner
University of Minnesota, USA

William (Bill) C. Gartner, Ph.D., is professor in the Applied Economics Department at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Email: wcg@umn.edu). His research interests include branding, image, economic impact, and tourism development. He has worked extensively in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Africa and holds visiting professor positions at four different international universities. He is the author of numerous journal articles, book chapters and books on tourism development. In addition, he has conducted economic impact, baseline monitoring, policy analysis and branding studies for the grape and wine industry in twelve U. S. states as part of the Northern Grapes project. He is a Fellow and past President of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.

Wine Economics: Lessons for Tourism Development

Abstract: Destination areas, with few exceptions, have always been in a race to augment their attraction base to compete more effectively against other destinations. Wine tourism, although not a new attraction, has taken on more importance in areas where it was once unfeasible due to climatic conditions. This presentation will examine the evolution of wine tourism into an area where it was never important before and discuss the reasons for this new form of tourism attraction and its impacts.
This presentation is centered around five elements, policy, economic impact, branding, import vs export focus and ancillary development. Although the case study is wine economics much of the discussion will be applicable to tourism development in general including other attractions.
“If you build it they will come” is often heard as a reason for further tourism development. Using the development of a tourism based wine industry as an example the myth of this statement will be exposed and lessons for successful tourism development will be examined.
 

 

Professor Thomas Bausch
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

Thomas Bausch, Dr., is professor and director of the competence center tourism and mobility at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen (Brunico, Alto-Adige, Italy. Email: thomas.bausch@unibz.it). During his more than 20 years lasting professional activities as managing director of the Alpine Research Institute he focussed already in the early 1990ies on sustainable regional development and destination development. In addition, since 2002 Thomas was professor at the faculty of tourism at the Munich University of applied sciences. He worked as expert for the seven alpine countries in the context of the Alpine Convention, and was involved in the strategy preparation of European regional funding programmes of the EU commission. Since 2019 he holds the position as director of the competence centre tourism and mobility at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen. There a focus of research is the sustainability understanding of consumers and travellers.

Sustainable Tourism: Between Seriousness and Greenwashing

Abstract: Sustainability emerged to the leading key concept for further development of societies and the economy. Today the extensive debate about a transformation of any human acting towards carbon neutral living partially covers that this aspect is just a part of sustainability. Among tourism scholars’ sustainability is a research field since more than three decades. Parallelly, it became a field of action in tourism industry, destinations, and tourism policy. This keynote aims at balancing what has been reached and giving an outlook. Initially it will look at the travelers who shall be attracted by sustainable tourism products. Thus, we raise the question, if consumers in general and travelers more particularly understand, what sustainability and sustainable tourism are. Comparing six western world countries differences caused by culture and languages and symbols for sustainability will be discussed. After a closer look at adaptation options and limitations for tourism industry will be taken. While some types of tourism seem to have a real chance to adapt their products quite fast others will need to bridge their businesses over a longer period by greenwashing because of a lack of availability of alternatives. Potential travelers’ reactions on adaptation and greenwashing therefore will need a further discussion.

 

Professor Behzad Behdani
Professor in Supply Chain and Operations Management
USN School of Business, University of South-Eastern Norway

Behzad Behdani is a Supply Chain and Operations Management Professor at USN School of Business. He is also the leader of the research group “Collaborative Innovation, Societal Transformation, and Operations Management” at the Department of Business, Strategy and Political Science, University of South-Eastern Norway.
He has published more than 50 articles, book chapters, and scientific contributions on some ground-breaking aspects of operations and supply chain management, among others, supply chain analytics, operations management at early-stage innovative companies (the link between innovation/technology management and operations management), food supply chains and operation, and port logistics. Behzad’s research also deals with how we can embed the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the design and operations of global supply chains.
 

Supply Chain 5.0: significance of Industry 5.0 for transforming the supply chain operations.

Abstract: Industry 5.0, also known as the Fifth Industrial Revolution, is a new and emerging phase of industrialisation that sees humans working alongside advanced technology to enhance the working processes. This reflects a shift from a focus on economic value to a focus on societal value and can have fundamental changes in the supply chain design and operations.
This keynote speech aims to present a conceptual framework for Supply Chain 5.0. Further, it discusses the drivers, barriers, and potential challenges for the transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 in the global supply chains. Additionally, an overview of the key technologies for enabling Supply Chain 5.0 will be discussed. Based on this, this speech will conclude with some key research directions toward realizing Industry 5.0 in the global supply chains.