Dimitrios Buhalis

Dimitrios Buhalis,^[1] is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries.

Dimitrios Buhalis is researching, lecturing, advising and facilitating progress in organisations globally, whilst his books and publications are studied widely by both students and professionals around the world. He is frequently delivering keynote presentations, speeches, seminars and workshops in both academic and professional conferences globally.^[2]

He is currently Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research,^[3] at the School of Tourism^[4] at Bournemouth University^[5] in England.

Profile

Research & Professional work

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is also the Director of the John Kent Institute in Tourism^[6] at the,^[7] Bournemouth University and Professorial Observer at the Bournemouth University Senate. Professor Buhalis is leading eTourism research and is working with the Bournemouth team for introducing technology in all aspects of tourism research and teaching. In 2009 he led Bournemouth University successfully through the^[8] Certification Process and is the BU representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.^[9] In recognition of his contribution, he was elected in August 2009, as a member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism.^[10] In April 2010, Dimitrios was elected President of International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT).^[11]

Dimitrios Buhalis was previously Programme Leader MSc in Tourism Marketing, Leader of eTourism Research, Reader in Business Information Management at the School of Management,^[12] and elected member of the University Senate (2003–2007). Until September he was also Course Leader, MSc in eTourism and Director of the Centre for eTourism Research (CeTR). He has also been Adjunct Professor at the^[13] in Paris, Visiting Professor at,^[14] China and Professor Associado at the,^[15] Portugal. He has been teaching tourism related subjects in more than 30 Universities around the world. He is regarded as an expert in the impacts of ICTs in the tourism industry and eTourism, the management of tourism distribution channels as well as strategic tourism marketing and management.

Dr. Buhalis has been involved with a number of European Commission FP5 and FP6 projects and regularly advises the World Tourism Organisation, the World Tourism and Travel Council and the European Commission in the field of information technology and tourism. His latest assignment with Government and Public Sector organisations was to develop an eTourism Strategy for the Egyptian Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt as part of the Austrian Twinning project, whilst he recently completed a project on the development of Hotel School for the Government of Andorra. Dimitrios is still an active tourism practitioner, listing the positions of Board of Directors with responsibility for strategy and marketing for Aquis Hotels and Resorts SA, the fastest growing hotel chain in Greece managing 15 hotels in January 2010 in his activities. He has also been advising private sector organisations such TUI, Opodo.com, YouTravel.com, on the strategic aspects of their business.

One of the main research areas of Prof. Buhalis is Accessible Tourism. He has co-edited a book with Simon Darcy on Accessible Tourism which has become the main reference book in this area.

His industrial experience includes managerial roles in the Aegean tourism industry, as well as 15 years of international tourism and hospitality research and consultancy. For several years he contributed to projects undertaken by the Surrey Research Group, ConTour Consultants at the University of Surrey, England, and the University of the Aegean in Greece. He has also been involved in teaching, advising and developing distance learning material for Universities and other organisations in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, France, Finland, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Andorra, Mauritius and Indonesia.

Background

Dimitrios Buhalis has served as Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the ENTER'98, ’99, and 2000 conferences on Tourism and Information Technology, as well as ENTER Destinations Chair for 2002 and ENTER Overall Chair in 2003, 2009 and ENTER2010. He is now the President of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT) of which he is a Founding Member and a previous Vice President; Chair of Events and Meetings and a Member of the Executive Committee and Council of the Tourism Society as well as Chairman of the Association of Tourism Teachers and Trainers (ATTT). Dimitrios also served as a Specialist Reviewer in Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation, Sport and Tourism for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the UK (QAA). He was External Examiner for the University of Wales at the Swansea Institute, the University of Greenwich, London and Les Roches Hospitality School in Switzerland. He is currently External Examiner at the Business School of the University of Kent and at.Sheffield Business School Sheffield Hallam University.

Prior to returning to the University of Surrey in 2000, Dimitrios was Senior Lecturer in Tourism, University of Westminster in London, where he was Module Leader for several Tourism, Business, Marketing, and Technology modules. He also played a critical role in the development of the MBA in Tourism and the MSc in Tourism Management at the University, as well as acted as liaison with the industry, and led Departmental research.

Education

Dimitrios Buhalis graduated in Business Administration from the University of the Aegean in Greece, where he was also a Researcher specialising in Tourism and Technology. He gained his MSc in Tourism Management (with Distinction) and PhD (in Tourism Management and Marketing) degrees from the Department of Management Studies for the Tourism and Hotel Industries, University of Surrey, where he contributed to the teaching, research and international consultancy undertaken by the tourism team. His research concentrated on the impacts of technology on the distribution channels of tourism and the implications for the strategic management and marketing of small and medium sized tourism enterprises in the European periphery. The research was financed by the Surrey Research Group, Contours Consultants, while the field research was sponsored by the Universities of Surrey (UK) and Aegean (Greece), as well as the Greek National Tourism Organisation.^[16]

Interests

Dimitrios Buhalis loves travelling, swimming, snorkelling, scuba diving, exploring local cultures and cuisines. As ex-professional photographer he is a photography maniac.

Career

Dimitrios Buhalis is an innovative tourism and hospitality researcher, teacher and adviser that conceptualises technology-enabled strategic management and marketing solutions on a global scale. His often called as a strategist for International Organisations, National and Local governments and private tourism organisations. He is an eTourism expert with numerous contributions to the academic community and tourism industry on applications and impacts of information technologies telecommunications.

Publications

Dimitrios Buhalis has written or co-edited a total of 16 books, including two books on the Future of Tourism, namely: Tourism Business Frontiers, Tourism Management Dynamics published by Butterworth-Heinemann, eTourism Case Studies, published by Butterworth as well as eTourism: Strategic Information Technology for Tourism published by Pearson (Prentice Hall/Financial Times) and Tourism Distribution Channels (Thomson), Managing alliances in the global hospitality and tourism industry as well as a series of three books on IT and Tourism. He has recently published his latest book on Accessible Tourism which he co-edited with Simon Darcy. He has also published more than 80 articles in scholarly journals, books, conference proceedings and consultancy reports.

Prof. Buhalis has a very active role in leading scientific publications and it is one of the most cited author in tourism. He is currently a Member of the Board for Tourism Management; Regional Editor for the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Reviews Editor for the International Journal of Tourism Research. For ten years he served as Books Editor of the Information Technology and Tourism (ITT) Journal. He also serves on a number of Editorial Boards, including: the Current Issues in Tourism; Anatolia-International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research; Journal of International Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Administration, the Journal of Sport Tourism; the Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education; the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, as well as the International Journal of Hospitality Information Technology. He served as Assistant Editor of the “Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research” until its transformation to the IJTR. He was Associate Editor for the Encyclopaedia of Tourism and ICT section Editor for the Encyclopaedia of Hospitality. He is adviser for the Leisure Recreation Tourism Abstracts (LRTA) and Editorial Adviser for several tourism and hospitality publishers.

Dimitrios is researching, lecturing, advising and facilitating progress in organisations globally, whilst his books and publications are studied widely by both students and professionals around the world.

(Professor Dimitrios Buhalis' web site: http://www.buhalis.com/ )

References

1. ^ Dimitrios Buhalis
2. ^ Dimitrios Journeys Blog
3. ^ International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research
4. ^ School of Tourism Bournemouth University
5. ^ Bournemouth University
6. ^ John Kent Institute in Tourism
7. ^ School of Tourism
8. ^ UNWTO.TedQual
9. ^ United Nations World Tourism Organisation
10. ^ International Academy for the Study of Tourism
11. ^ International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism
12. ^ University of Surrey
13. ^ MBA in Hospitality Management at the IMHI (Cornell University-Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales ESSEC)
14. ^ School of Hotel and Tourism Management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University
15. ^ University of Aveiro
16. ^ Greek National Tourism Organisation

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Name	Buhalis, Dimitrios
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