Maisa Adinolfi is a lecturer at the School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH), at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa since 2008. She lectures and supervises in tourism development at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Her research interests include youth tourism, language travel, domestic tourism, and social tourism. She is currently studying towards her PhD on diaspora tourism, focusing on the Portuguese diaspora of Johannesburg.
Scott Grime is the Tourism Education Development Management with VisitBritain/VisitEngland. Scott is responsible for delivering training and content to support businesses within the English tourism landscape. Throughout COVID-19, he has been working with tourism destinations across England to ensure businesses have access to the correct information and provide them with all the tools and support to aid their recovery.
Connect with Scott on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott–grime-3ba67948/
Dr. Stefan Hartman holds the position of Head of Department of the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI – www.etfi.eu) at NHL Stenden University and Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. Stefan obtained his PhD at the University of Groningen on the development, strategic (spatial) planning and governance issues related to landscapes that are in the process of becoming destinations for tourism and leisure.
Connect with Stefan on LinkedIn: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/stefan-hartman-47654821At the ETFI he helps a wide variety of actors related to the leisure and tourism industry to develop strategies and actions that allow them to manage continually changing circumstances. To do so, he uses his knowledge of transition management, resilience and adaptive capacity building.
Ms Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo was appointed in November 2011 as the Chief Convention Bureau Officer of the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB), a unit within South African Tourism.
Ms Kotze-Nhlapo joined South African Tourism following a successful tenure at the Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau where she held the position of head of the Bureau for six years. Her appointment and the establishment of the National Convention Bureau have worked to strengthen South Africa’s capacity in support of business events efforts to secure bids for the meetings, incentive, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry. Amanda has more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
Ben Lynam is Head of Strategic Communications at the Travel Foundation, a sustainable tourism charity based in the UK, which works with businesses and destinations across the globe to improve tourism’s impacts. He has been at the Travel Foundation for nearly 9 years and has been involved in projects such as developing the influential “Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism” report in 2019, and setting up the Future of Tourism Coalition in 2020.
Deon Pienaar is a Visualiser at the Traveling Circus. In his own words:
‘My eye for the unusual and love of cultural stories have inspired me to showcase unique tourism destinations and experiences on various marketing platforms using innovative design and evocative content. I am a film-maker, photographer and digital content creator, with a passion for telling the visual stories of people and places with heart.
My varied experiences over the past ten years in marketing, film-making, lodge management, guest relations, rural community tourism development, youth programmes, mentorship, entrepreneurial initiatives and immersive experience development have provided me with enormous insights and are the inspiration behind the innovative, integrated solutions I visualise for the world of tourism.
I am dynamic, hands-on and passionate about the meaningful connections we create within the Traveling Circus ecosystem and across our planet. By travelling with impact and living with consciousness, I am inspiring new ways of thinking, connecting and dreaming.’
Dr Sarah Rawlinson joined the University of Northampton as Partnership Curriculum Lead after a career as Head of the Centre for Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Derby, where she worked with international partners in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Botswana, Singapore and Greece.
Dr. Rawlinson’s professional interests include the development of curriculum models that support vocational learning and provide opportunities for students to learn how to bring theory alive and link it to practical application. She has been involved in developing opportunities for students to gain as much experiential learning as part of their degree to support their professional development and provide students with experiences that support employability and prepare graduates for industry.
Dr Rawlinson’s research interests include the demands for talented young people in the tourism and hospitality industry, the relationship between industry and higher education, the development of curriculum, work-based learning, and the different use of knowledge in the workplace. She is also a reviewer for several academic journals and continues to support PhD students.
Dr Rawlinson is an Executive member of the Council for Hospitality Educators; an auditor for THE-ICE Assessment Panel; a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; Trustee for the Arkwright Society, an educational charity devoted to the rescue of industrial heritage buildings at Cromford Mill; and a Trustee for the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust, a registered charity established to preserve the stunning buildings in Buxton, UK and to create an inspiring visitor experience. She has also consulted with High Peak Borough Council and with Derbyshire County Council Steering Committee in the UK to advise on a tourism strategy for the county.
Felix Windegger is researcher in the fields of ecological economics, social-ecological transformation and degrowth. He currently works at the Center for Advanced Studies at Eurac Research, where he is part of several projects addressing the interface between tourism and sustainability. In particular, he co-leads The Sustainable Tourism Observatory of South Tyrol (STOST), which focuses on monitoring and reporting tourism-related sustainability indicators in order to provide a sound foundation for evidence-based policy-making.