Speakers

James Cook University Singapore

18 January

ASEAN Tourism Research Conference 2017

ATRC

2017

Datuk Seri Prof. Victor Wee

ASEAN Tourism in 2050

Datuk Seri Victor Wee is currently Professor at Taylor’s University in the School of Hospitality, Tourism, and Culinary Arts, and had previously served as Secretary General of Ministry of Tourism (2004-2008) and Chairman of Tourism Malaysia (2009-2013). He was Chairman of the Programme and Budget Committee of World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) during 2008-2013 and had gone on consultancy assignments for the United Nations agency responsible for tourism.

In 2009, Prof. Wee led the Tourism Lab under PEMANDU to chart out the programmes for the transformation of Malaysia’s tourism industry in 2020. During the formulation of the Blueprint for ASEAN 2025, he was tasked by the Malaysian Government to lead and oversee the completion of the Socio-Cultural Pillar that provided the vision and strategic directions for adoption and implementation among the ASEAN Member States for the decade, 2016-2025.

The major part of Prof Wee's career was spent at Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department, where he was involved in formulating the five-year and ten-year Malaysia Plans. His other notable roles were Advisor to Ministry of Finance and Deputy Head of National Economic Action Council (NEAC) during the Asian Financial Crisis 1997-98, where he prepared the National Economic Recovery Plan.

Prof. Wee holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from University of Malaya, Master of Arts from Brown University, U.S.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Bristol University, United Kingdom.

Mr Robin Yap

Transforming Tourism landscape

Robin Yap is President Asia of The Travel Corporation, an international travel group that includes Insight Vacations, Trafalgar Tours, Contiki Holidays, Uniworld Cruises, Thompson Gateway Africa, Red Carnation Hotels and other leisure interests. Prior to joining Insight Vacations, Robin spent 10 years with Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary companies. He currently serves as Vice Chairman and Chairman activities of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Singapore Chapter and International Advisory Board member of Maison de la France.

In education Robin currently serves as a member of the Management Council and Academic Board of East Asia School of business. He also served as Chairman of Tourism Management Institute of Singapore from 2004 to 2008, Chairman of Chartered Institute of Marketing UK (Singapore Branch) from 1999 to 2000 and Academic Board Member of Ngee Ann Polytechnic from 1998 to 2008. He holds professional qualifications in Marketing, Business Administration, Public Relations and Management from United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. He obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Hull, UK in 1995.

Prof. Philip Pearce

Evolving tourism behaviours in ASEAN

Philip Pearce has taught in Australian Universities for over 30 years. He is the first Professor of Tourism in Australia and is based at James Cook University. He has a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and Diploma of Education from the University of Adelaide and earned a Doctorate from the University of Oxford studying tourists in Europe. He has held a Fulbright scholarship at Harvard University. In his position at James Cook University he teaches at all levels with a focus on tourist behaviour and experience. In 2008 he won an ALTC award for advancing tourism education and for the supervision of Doctoral level students,

He has 280 publications and 15 books on tourism. His work has been cited over 10,000 times (Google scholar). He is a frequent keynote speaker at tourism conferences particularly in Asia. His special interest areas are tourist behaviour, notably tourist motivation and experience, tourism and communities and tourism education and research. He was awarded the title of Distinguished Professor of the University in 2016.

He has recent interest and publications in the areas of Asian and Chinese outbound tourism. He supervises a large number of PhD students and has been the principal supervisor for over 40 PhD successful graduates from 12 countries. He currently supervises PhD students from China, Thailand, Germany, Russia, Iran, Australia, and Singapore.

Conference Programme