Taylor’s Professor Receives the “Beeton Award” from the Travel and Tourism Research Association
Professor Perry Hobson was awarded the “Sue Beeton Award” from the Travel and Tourism Research Association’s Asia-Pacific Chapter for his contribution and commitment.
(L-R): Dr Jeff Dally (President of TTRA-APac), Prof Perry Hobson (TU), Prof Sue Beeton (Founder of TTRA-Apac) being presented with the “Beeton Award” in HK
There are many academic and industry tourism associations, but the unique positioning of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) is that its membership includes both academics and industry practitioners. There are seven regional chapter of TTRA – four of them are in the USA, with additional chapters covering the membership in Canada, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. TTRA-APac chapter was founded by Professor Sue Beeton in 2011, and Prof Perry Hobson who is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at TU was the initial Vice-President.
The inaugural TTRA-APac conference was hosted by Taylor’s University at the Lakeside campus. Over the past five-years TTRA-Apac has been the fastest growing chapter within TTRA. It was recognised for its activities, with a TTRA Chapter Award in 2016 , and since then Prof Hobson has been put “ In the Spotlight ” by TTRA. Its annual conferences have since been held in Japan, the UAE and Australia. This year the conference was held in Hong Kong, and was hosted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University (SAR-China). The “Beeton Award” was first given in 2016, and was established to recognise an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to TTRA-Apac chapter.
The 2017 Beeton Award was presented to Prof Perry Hobson by the TTRA-APac Chapter President, Dr Jeff Dalley, and also Prof Sue Beeton who said, “the award was given in appreciation and acknowledgement of Perry’s support and enthusiasm and for furthering the interanationalisation of TTRA”. Prof Perry Hobson expressed his deep thanks for this recognition, adding that, “I recall that I attended my first TTRA international conference when I was doing my Masters degree in the USA back in mid 1980s. I then established a student chapter of TTRA at the University of Massachusetts back in 1987 with the help of Dr Linda Lowry and Professor John Hunt. So, I have had a long association with TTRA, and I am so pleased that we have now been able to establish a chapter in the Asia-Pacific region. The establishment of a new lower ‘Global South’ membership fee will allow us to further expand our membership in this region”. Over the last year, Prof Hobson has also been made an Honorary Fellow of the UK’s Council of Hospitality Management Education (CHME) and was also entered into the “ Hall of Fame” of the International Centre of Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Education (THE-ICE) accreditation body in Australia - (Global Matters 2018)
