The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute welcomes exciting leadership changes this Summer. Dr. Rachel J.C. Fu assumes the role of Director of EFTI, as well as Chair of the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at the University of Florida.
Although some communities are just now having to deal and learn from a crisis, this time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, facing the importance of resilience for a crisis is not a new concept for some communities. Yu-Hua “Melody” Xu is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on destination resilience, community development, and sharing economy
Although some communities are just now having to deal and learn from a crisis, this time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, facing the importance of resilience for a crisis is not a new concept for some communities. Yu-Hua “Melody” Xu is a PhD candidate whose research focuses on destination resilience, community development, and sharing economy
As we approach the end of our fiscal year, we want to recognize the accomplishments and thank our Industry Advisory Board for another year of dedication and support. In this past year, this group of outstanding professionals guided us on meaningful and timely research questions, helped us grow our Tourism Partners program with individual and corporate partnerships, and each one of them has been admirable in their own areas and positions supporting the industry during these tough times.
On Friday, May 1, 2020 we hosted our last EFTI seminar of the Spring semester via Zoom. Dr. Jamie Murphy, resident of New Smyrna Beach and Adjunct Professor at the University of Eastern Finland, presented Food (Waste) for Thought: A Wicked Problem to an audience of graduate students and faculty from the Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management at the University of Florida as well as guests from other universities.
EFTI’s faculty and students are outstanding not just in the field of tourism, but also in their interdisciplinary projects. For another year, our researchers represented EFTI and UF in the Association of American Geographers conference, virtually this time.
The COVID-19 crisis brought swift changes in the way our society functions and, unfortunately, has reduced or eliminated the workload of many professionals worldwide. This is not the case for our EFTI Director, Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray, whose expertise is Tourism Crisis Management.
Last Friday, March 13, 2020 we had the presentation from Dr. Andrei Kirilenko titled “Re-reading Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina helps analysis of tourist dissatisfaction”. The project is a collaboration between Dr. Kirilenko and Dr. Stepchenkova (EFTI Researchers) and Dr. Xiangyi Dai from Beijing Capital University.
The third round of the ongoing study conducted by the Tourism Crisis Management Initiative, directed by Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray had the results just announced. The group surveyed more than 500 American travelers to understand their travel intentions facing the current COVID-19 pandemic and analyze the changes from previous weeks.
EFTI Seminars are a great opportunity for students and other faculty to get updated on each other’s works and share knowledge, provide feedback and collaborate. On February 21st, we kicked off the EFTI Seminar Series Spring 2020 with a presentation from one of our own faculty, Dr. Jinwon Kim. The project titled “Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity: A Macrolevel Approach” was a collaboration with Changwook Kim, PhD candidate in the department of Sport Management.
Dr. Lori Pennington-Gray and PhD candidate Danielle Barbe surveyed more than 500 American travelers to understand their travel intentions facing the recent coronavirus outbreak. Two studies were done, one on January 26 and 27 and the second one on February 7 to 9.
The group, composed by Dr. Andrei Kirilenko, researcher at the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute (EFTI), and two PhD candidates, Shihan (David) Ma and Lijuan Su, from the UF Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management (THEM), provided once again some “Expert Insights for Real Questions” , and proved that the tourism research at the University of Florida is one of the best in the world.
Dr. Heather Gibson and Dr. Brijesh Thapa, professors in the department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and EFTI researchers, were recognized for their contributions to the academia during their successful careers.
The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute had a great presence on the Travel and Tourism Research Association Annual International Conference which happened in Melbourne between June 25 and June 27, 2019. EFTI was a Bronze level sponsor and was represented by nine researchers.
