First WTO Ulysses Prize awarded to Professor Donald E. Hawkins

The first WTO.Ulysses Prize has been awarded to Professor Donald E. Hawkins of The George Washington University's School of Business and Public Management.

The 2003 WTO.Ulysses Prize for Research and the Dissemination of Knowledge in Tourism has been awarded by the World Tourism Organization to Professor Donald E. Hawkins, who was the founder of the Tourism Studies Programme at The George Washington University, located  in Washington D.C., USA. The prize has been given to him for "his scientific contribution to the theory and practice of Tourism Policy".

The WTO.Ulysses Awards were created to foster innovation and the application of knowledge in tourism. The institutional category of the award  is given to innovative projects undertaken by tourism destinations, enterprises and institutions. In the present case, however, the Award is being bestowed upon an individual scholar in recognition of work supporting applied knowledge related to policy and strategy for tourism destinations and enterprises. In both of these categories, the institution (WTO.Ulysses Award) and the individual (WTO.Ulysses Prize) receiving this honour from the World Tourism Organization must have made outstanding and innovative contributions to the development and application of knowledge in tourism.

Professor Hawkins, who is well known in academic, government and professional circles, has made a substantial intellectual contribution to tourism since the early 1970s. Author or editor of some 100 publications contemporary aspects of tourism policy and strategy, Prof. Hawkins founded the Tourism Policy Forum in 1989 which for many years gathered intellectuals, academics and professionals from all regions of the world in the inter-disciplinary study of the macro effects of tourism: economic, social,  cultural and environmental. The publication World Travel and Tourism Review served as a communications medium for the Forum as well as providing a significant source of knowledge to decision-makers in  Tourism Policy. Today, dedicated to research and teaching, as the holder of the Eisenhower Chair in tourism policy at The George Washington University, Prof. Hawkins facilitates active collaboration between the tourism industry and international  institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Tourism Organization.

By designating Professor Hawkins as the first recipient of this WTO distinction, the World Tourism Organization seeks to underscore the importance of knowledge creation, as well as its dissemination and application, to today's tourism industry, to the public-private management of  tourism destinations and to National Tourism Administrations. This is especially important at this stage of tourism's maturity, when its potential for development and the creation of wealth and well-being must be compatible with the management of its social, cultural and environmental impacts. The emergence of major challenges (security, health, etc.) for tourism requires a constant effort to innovate and re-invent to achieve quality, efficiency and, in essence, the optimization of tourism's contributions to society.

The 2003 WTO.Ulysses Prize will be awarded to Dr. Hawkins by the Former Head of Government of Spain, H.E. Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo in a ceremony to be held on 3 June at the University Antonio de Nebrija  campus in Madrid. This will be followed by the WTO.Ulysses Prize Lecture which will be held on 5 June at the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid.