25 Sep 2018|Noida | I 2 Moot Court
Amity International Tourism and Hospitality Conference (AITHC - 2018)
To enhance and develop opportunities for global and collaborative research in the field of hospitality and tourism, Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism started Amity International Tourism and Hospitality Conference (AITHC - 2018) on topic“Innovations & Disruptions in Tourism, Tourism and Hospitality Business Processes: a Global Prospective” at Amity University, Sector 125, Noida.
The objective of the three day Conference is to create opportunities for partnerships, inclusive growth and global economic development will provide a platform to academicians, industry professionals, researchers and students to present their research studies and findings relevant to the field of hospitality, tourism & aviation to bridge the gap between academia and industry with strong industry interface.
Prof Urs Wagenseil, Director & Head of Competence Centre of Tourism, Lucerne University of Applied Science & Arts, Luzern, Switzerland; Mr. VinodZutshi, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India,Consultants & Advisors (Travel & Tourism); Prof. (Dr.) Sandeep Kulshreshtha, Director, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management,Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, Govindpuri, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh; Prof. Christophe Martin, Dean of Tourism Institute, Saint Marie de Chavagnes,Cannes, France and Ms. Marina Ambrosecchio, President European University of Tourism, Italy were present during the inaugural session.
Welcoming the gathering, Dr. (Prof.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh said that the conference provides a platform for the Industry experts, Academicians, Tourism, Aviation and Hospitality Researchers, Tourism and Hospitality policy planners and officials along with students to deliberate upon the global disruptions ailing the tourism, travel and hospitality processes and to identify and create sustainable innovative solutions in the form of contemporary innovations for the domain.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. (Dr.) Sandeep Kulshreshtha said that in the last few years, the global tourism fraternity has witnessed tremendous change and growth has been witnessed in Asian tourism markets while European tourism has been on a slow growth rate now. He averred that the future of tourism will be driven from Asia especially in China and India. The growth spells valuable opportunities for Asia’s travel and tourism industry. He further added that there is paradigm shift in the industry with focus on the flexibility of businesses to adapt the changing times and needs. Prof. Kulshreshtha stressed that now-a-days, tourists demand experience during travel rather than just sight seeing. People are more interested in exploring the ethnicity and traditional euphoria of a country. He further briefed about the emerging demographic groups and said women make most travel related decisions based on custom, suitability, hotel, price and schedule. He apprised that the industry needs to work around multi generation based destinations and should focus on disruptions about carrying capacity of a destination as well as deliberating upon proper utilization of limited resources.
Sharing his views, Mr. Vinod Zutshi said that technology is the major disruption in travel, tourism and hospitality industry. Innovation and disruption brought radical change that resulted in tourism becoming the National priority. He emphasized that government and people have realized that tourism is an important engine for economic growth of the country. Apprising about the changing scenarios in travel tourism and hospitality industry, Mr. Zutshi said that infrastructure, connectivity and easy accessibility have led to increase in tourism of unexplored places across the globe. He opined that story telling is an important aspect of destination marketing as consumers are interested in exploring and experiencing while travelling. He pointed out that digitization,communication and technology have felicitated people to become independent travelers.
Mr.Zutshi expressed his concern over the security and safety of tourists which has become a major global issue. He informed that sustainability and responsibility in tourism has come to forefront. He advised the budding professionals to be prepared and updated with the changing trends and called upon them to come up with innovations and disruptions to take the industry further.
Addressing the gathering, Prof Urs Wagenseil said that presently, there are 250 countries as travel destinations which means there is a competition in tourism like never before. He opined that in the tourism market, it is the destinations that compete not the individuals. Hence, it is the responsibility of every individual to conserve and preserve the authenticity of destinations. He said that currently, the industry work on two approaches including concepts &implementations of a powerful destination management and sustainability management. He stressed upon creating a future oriented master plan for sustainable growth of the industry. Prof. Wagenseil pointed out that over crowding and sometimes, the bad behavior of tourists are causing conflicts between locals and tourists. He averred that tourism policies should be framed to curb these issues.
Prof.(Dr.) M. Sajnani, Dean Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism, Director Amity Institute of Travel and Tourism shared that the conference received more than 300 research papers from across the globe and there view committee has selected 38 papers which will be published in the conference journal.
During the occasion, Amity University signed MoUs with Griffith University, Australia; The EuropeanUniversity for Tourism, Italy and Lucerne University of Applied Science & Arts, Luzern, Switzerland Journal of Faculty of Hospitality &Tourism (Amity Research Journal of Tourism, Aviation & Hospitality) was released by the dignitaries.