|
The 2004 WTO.Ulysses Prize has been awarded to Professor J.R. Brent Ritchie,
who holds the Professorship of Tourism Management in the Haskayne School of
Business at the University of Calgary in Canada.
Dr. Ritchie serves as Chair of the University's World Tourism Education and
Research Centre and was elected as the Founding Chair of the World Tourism
Organization's Education Council in 2001. The prize has been awarded to him for
"his scientific contribution to the theory and practice of Tourism Policy as well as
his leadership over the past 30 years in the area of tourism education and
research".
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 scientist (WTO.Ulysses
Prize), the recipient of this honour from the World Tourism Organization must
have made outstanding and innovative contributions to the development and
application of knowledge in tourism.
Professor Ritchie, who is well known in academic, government and professional
circles, has made a substantial intellectual contribution to tourism since the early
1970s. Author of extensive publications on tourism and related topics in leading
journals in the field, Dr. Ritchie is also the co-author of numerous books, among
which are: Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies (now in its 9th edition and
widely regard as the leading introductory textbook in the field of tourism); and
Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Research: A Handbook for Managers and Researchers. His most recent book, wThe Competitive Destination: A Sustainable
Tourism Perspective, has been endorsed by the World Tourism Organization as a
theoretical and practical framework for effective Destination Management.
He also currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards of numerous scholarly leading
journals in the field.
Dr. Ritchie's ongoing research interests include the study of tourism destination
management, destination competitiveness and sustainability, travel destination
images and branding, tourism policy, planning and development, managing quality service in tourism, regulatory policy in the airline industry, enhancing
productivity and competitiveness in the industry and managing the tourism
impacts of such mega-events and attractions as the XV Olympic Winter Games
and world expositions. His current active research focuses on destination
competitiveness, destination branding, destination management, the environmental impacts of visitor behaviours, and the tourism experience.
By designating Professor Ritchie as the recipient of 2004 WTO Ulysses Prize, the
World Tourism Organization said it 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. The first WTO.Ulysses Prize was awarded last year to Professor
Donald E. Hawkins of The George Washington University's School of Business
and Public Management. |
