May 27, 2015

Professor Bob McKercher has been named President at International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST)

Professor Bob McKercher was elected President of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST) in April 2015. Professor Bob McKercher is a Professor in Tourism in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has been a tourism academic since 1990, beginning his career at the Albury-Wodonga campus of Charles Sturt University. Prior to that, Professor McKercher worked in the Canadian tourism industry in a variety of advocacy and operational roles. He was also a ski instructor and back country guide. Professor McKercher spent four years as Executive Director of the Northern Ontario Outfitters Association, a trade association representing the wilderness fishing lodges in northern Canada. Professor McKercher has wide ranging research interests. He has published over 200 scholarly papers and research reports on a variety of cultural tourism, socio-cultural tourism, nature-based tourism, regional tourism development, tourism marketing and tourism education issues. He is the author of The Business of Nature-based Tourism (1998) and co-authored Cultural Tourism: The partnership between tourism and cultural heritage management (2002). He has also co-edited two other books. Professor McKercher is the member of the editorial board of 15 international tourism journals. He received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in Australia, a Masters degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and his undergraduate degree from York University in Toronto, Canada. Professor McKercher is a member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, a Fellow of CAUTHE, the Council for Australian Tourism and Hospitality Education and is listed in Who’s Who Asia.

General Management Asia Pacific Hong Kong (SAR) Hong Kong