Last week (12 – 19 May), I got to attend the invite-only Academy conference 2024 of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism in Orlando, Florida. The conference was hosted at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management of the University of Central Florida. My attendance at this invite-only conference was on the basis that I had been adjudged as an Emerging Scholar of Distinction by the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. I was therefore invited to receive this award of Emerging Scholar of Distinction and to present my work to the rest of the fellows + invited scholars at the conference. I am grateful to my friend and mentor Marina Novelli for nominating me for this award and for the selection committee that had to assess all the other nominations. It is an honour to receive this award and a testament to the importance of the ongoing research on how tourism intersect with the cultural memories of slavery and colonial heritage. You can check out the conference programme here: https://tourism2024.com/

It was my first time in the United States so I was open to all the experiences this part of the country had to offer….and there sure were many impressions for me. At a later date, I will write some blog posts about some of the impressions, experiences and thoughts I had while out there. I definitely want to say something about our visit to the Kennedy Space Center in terms of the design of the visitor experience as well as reflect on the role of the United States (economic model) in relation to addressing our current planetary climate crisis. But that will come at another day.

I guess now with this award of Emerging Scholar of Distinction, I can declare myself as an ‘Emerged Scholar’ but then again being a scholar is an emergent process so I am always “emerging” in a sense 🙂