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
On Friday, October 26th, Dr. Jamie Murphy Adjunct Professor and Research Fellow for the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Western Australia. Dr. Murphy has been focusing his research in the past couple of years on the importance of sustainable practices in the Tourism industry, doing research across the globe and learning what techniques are working and which techniques are falling short.
Alice Norsworthy, the chair for the EFTI Advisory Board and Chief Marketing Officer for Universal Parks and Resorts was featured in a University of Florida Foundation article which showed how our Gators “Go Greater.” With over 10 years with Universal Parks and Resorts, Norsworthy is an innovator in the tourism industry and is constantly putting together some of the most comprehensive and detailed marketing strategies of this era.
One of our very own TRSM faculty - Dr. Heather Gibson was featured in the UF News Update on October 22, 2018. Dr. Gibson in the Fall 2017 semester took part as an adviser for the Semester at Sea program where she lead students on a 100 day cruise around the world visiting 10 countries and 4 continents. This program helped lead to her research on the individual traveler as well as her research on the individual woman traveler.
Fuad Mehraliyev is a visiting scholar from Azerbaijan, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Tourism and Social Cultural Service from Baku State University in 2008. After his graduation from Umeå University in 2012, he returned to his home country and worked as a Lecturer for four years at Western University. His research interests are information communication technologies, social media power, and experimental design in tourism studies.
Thomas Hill, State Modeling Manager for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) spoke on Friday, October 5th to EFTI Faculty, Staff, and students about the importance of Tourism and Travel in Florida. Hill holds both his Undergraduate and Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Florida State University, and is currently working on updating the Florida Statewide Passenger and Freight Model which is in charge of monitoring the planning of freight routes and processes across the state of Florida.
From June 28th to July 9th, 17 students from various Canadian universities spent the week in Gainesville before traveling down to Orlando to complete the Disney International Program. These students are all prart of the Disney International Academic Exchange Program at UF.
The Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute will be co-hosting a conference titled “Future of Tourism in the Golden Triangle, Jordan: Destination Competitiveness, Connectivity, and Sustainability” from August 8-9, 2018 with the University of Jordan and the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority.
After the morning research presentations and the business meeting in the early afternoon of April 13th, 2018, the advisory board participated in an Industry Insights session where they shared their knowledge and expertise to a group of 40+ students, faculty, staff, and the rest of the advisory board.
On April 6th, 2018, the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute hosted visiting scholar, Dr. Juan M. Hernández-Guerra, for a seminar on understanding the links between hotels and activities in a tourism destination using a growing network model.
