News

RCdTT and SHTM Joint Seminar: Scenario Planning as a Strategic Tool for Building a Resilient Organization by Dr. Gyan P. Nyaupane

Today, a joint seminar co‑hosted by the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT) and the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) was successfully convened, with the theme Scenario Planning as a Strategic Tool for Building a Resilient Organisation. The seminar was delivered by Dr. Gyan P. Nyaupane, Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at Arizona State University, USA. Chaired by Prof Haiyan Song, Prof. Haiyan Song, Director of the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT) and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), the event attracted around 30 participants, including SHTM PhD candidates and other RCDTT members. Tourism and hospitality organisations face major uncertainties arising from climate change, geopolitical instability and rapid AI development. Traditional forecasting is constrained by non‑linear changes and limited historical data. Scenario planning offers a systematic method to assess uncertainties and build robust strategies for multiple possible futures. Dr. Nyaupane introduced the core concepts and practical workflow of scenario planning. He shared how this tool helps tourism organisations strengthen strategic thinking and organisational resilience amid global uncertainties. Dr. Nyaupane is Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University and Editor‑in‑Chief of Tourism Review International. His research focuses on sustainable tourism and human‑environment interactions. After the seminar, participants held interactive Q&A and academic discussions. They talked about the challenges of applying scenario planning in tourism organisations and potential research collaborations. The joint seminar offered a valuable platform for RCDTT and SHTM researchers to learn about advanced international research on organisational resilience.

Prof. Haiyan Song Visits PATA Headquarters to Finalize Annual Tourism Monitor Report 2026 and Expand Strategic Research Collaborations

Prof. Haiyan Song, Director of the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT) and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), recently visited the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Headquarters in Bangkok. The primary objective of the official visit was to finalize the upcoming flagship publication: the PATA Annual Tourism Monitor Report 2026. The PATA Annual Tourism Monitor Report 2026 is built on the foundation of the PATA Visitor Forecasts 2026–2028, a long-standing collaborative forecasting initiative between PATA and RCDTT / SHTM. The report highlights Key travel demand patterns, visitor flow trajectories, and regional performance across Asia and the Pacific, which help destination management organizations (DMOs) and private-sector stakeholders navigate an evolving tourism landscape. The report also provides actionable guidance to support evidence-based policy formulation, investment strategies, and sustainable industry development. The full report is scheduled for official release in October 2026 to all PATA members and the public. During high-level meetings with PATA leadership, Prof. Song also met Mr Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO of PATA, to explore new avenues to deepen institutional collaboration and address pressing industry needs, including: Development of a PATA Tourism Satisfaction Report to establishing a standardized regional benchmark to assess and track visitor experience, service quality, and destination competitiveness across Pacific-Asia destinations. The discussion also includes designing applied research projects focused on high-priority industry topics such as AI and data-driven destination management, crisis resilience, and sustainable tourism practices. This visit reinforces the enduring partnership between PATA and RCDTT/SHTM, highlighting the vital role of advanced data science, econometric modeling, and academic-industry collaboration in driving sustainable tourism growth across the Asia-Pacific region.

RCDTT and Pseudo Lab Co-Organize Joint Forum to Connect Tourism Research and AI Practice

The Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT) and the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University jointly organized the "AI for Smart Hospitality, Tourism & Culture" forum with Pseudo Lab on 18 September 2026. Co-hosted by Prof Wangoo Lee, Assistant Professor at SHTM, and Mr Chanran Kim, Founder of Pseudo Lab, the event brought together academics, AI practitioners, and students from Hong Kong and South Korea.   Pseudo Lab is a South Korea-based, non-profit AI community that supports open knowledge exchange and collaborative projects. Its visiting participants included practitioners from NVIDIA Korea, KRAFTON, Myrealtrip, Shinhan DS, HDC LABS, and other organizations, bringing diverse industry perspectives to the discussions.   Prof Kaye Chon, Dean of SHTM, delivered the opening remarks. Prof Dan Wang, Associate Dean of SHTM and Associate Director of RCDTT, and Mr Chanran Kim also welcomed participants during the opening session. Prof Simone Bianco moderated the joint panel, which featured Profs Bela Stantic and Faye Hao alongside Pseudo Lab representatives, connecting hospitality and tourism research with developments in AI practice. A hands-on workshop introduced participants to building multi-agent AI systems through a hotel review response example. The first plenary seminar covered industry applications, including AI translation, visual content generation, and tourism trends. The second focused on research applications, including causal inference, generative AI in online reviews, and restaurant survival prediction.   Beyond the formal sessions, Profs Mimi Li, Associate Director of RCDTT, and Richard Qiu joined Prof Wangoo Lee and Pseudo Lab representatives for a lunch meeting, providing an additional opportunity for exchange between RCDTT/SHTM scholars and the visiting practitioners.   The forum supported RCDTT's commitment to advancing the digital transformation of tourism by connecting domain expertise with technical capabilities and encouraging collaboration between researchers and industry practitioners.

Call for Registration: The 2027 Hong Kong PolyU Winter School®

The 2027 Hong Kong PolyU Winter School® by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management offers five practice-oriented modules to help hospitality and tourism professionals respond to a fast-changing business environment and create stronger organisational value. Covering customer analytics, employee engagement and workplace well-being, applied AI in hotel management, Chinese Mainland’s social media ecosystem, and hotel valuation and management contracts, the programme offers a balanced mix of digital innovation, people-focused management, market insight, and strategic investment thinking. Through practical frameworks, industry examples, and applied learning, participants will gain actionable knowledge and tools to enhance guest experience, strengthen team performance, improve commercial effectiveness, and support long-term value creation. The 2027 Hong Kong PolyU Winter School® will be held on 4-8 January 2027. The programme is co-organised by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Hotels Association. Certificate Programme: Participants who successfully complete each one-day (6-hour) module in the programme will receive a Certificate of Completion for Hong Kong PolyU Winter School® issued by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The Programme will be conducted in English. Venue: All modules will be held at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Please click here for more details.

Prof. Mimi Li Delivers Keynote on AI and Tourism Marketing at 100th TOSOK International Conference

Professor Mimi Li, Associate Director of the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was invited to deliver a keynote address at the 100th International Conference of the Tourism Sciences Society of Korea (TOSOK), held in Seoul. The Tourism Sciences Society of Korea, established in 1972, is the largest and oldest academic organisation dedicated to tourism research in the country. In her presentation, Prof. Li presented findings on the application of artificial intelligence in tourism marketing, with a focus on the differences between Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong travellers. She noted that Hong Kong tourists still predominantly rely on search engines, word-of-mouth, and online travel agencies (OTAs) for information search and booking. In contrast, Mainland travellers prefer mobile applications that offer user-generated content and travel guides, and tend to book through these platforms and social media channels. Citing survey data, Prof. Li reported that nearly one-third of respondents have used AI as a source of travel information, and over 70% of Mainland tourists make their travel decisions within one week prior to departure. The integration of AI with booking platforms, she observed, facilitates more spontaneous travel. Prof. Li also outlined emerging market characteristics. She observed a shift from product-based purchasing to the acquisition of “emotional value,” with tourists increasingly motivated by experiential and affective factors. Generative AI, she noted, is transforming information acquisition from active keyword-based search to recommendation-led discovery. Consequently, marketing strategies now address not only human decision-makers but also algorithms and AI agents. Search engine optimisation (SEO), she argued, is gradually being supplemented by generative engine optimisation (GEO), requiring destinations to be interpretable, visible, and recommendable by AI systems. Beyond content creation, AI is being deployed to assist with workflow management, enabling marketers to track search trends, platform dynamics, and situational contexts in order to perceive user needs and adapt destination attributes into scenario-specific content. This is further integrated with SEO, GEO, and social media channels. Prof. Li projected that future interaction pathways will evolve towards a model of “destination/hotel – destination agent – tourist agent – tourist,” with agent-to-agent (A2A) interactions emerging as a new phenomenon. Concluding her keynote, Prof. Li offered three cautionary observations for academic research. She advised scholars to be aware of the bandwagon effect and to revisit traditional determinants of tourism behaviour; to identify what is genuinely novel in the AI-driven transformation; and to critically reflect on the challenges posed by AI as a research collaborator.

RCdTT Scholar Debates Research Evolution at TTRA, Delivers Forecasting Keynote in Montreal

GREENVILLE, USA / MONTREAL, Canada – Prof Haiyan Song, Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism and Director of the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCdTT) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, took centre stage at two major international conferences in late June 2026. At the 56th Annual Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) International Conference in Greenville, South Carolina (24–26 June), Prof Song served as a plenary speaker in the "Great Academic Debate". He presented his position on the evolution of tourism research, debating against Prof Sara Dolnicar's perspective on tourism research in crisis. Immediately following the TTRA conference, Prof Song delivered a keynote for the practitioners' track at the 46th International Symposium on Forecasting (ISF) in Montreal, Canada (28 June – 1 July). His talk, titled "Asia Pacific Tourism Demand Forecasting," introduced his team's advanced forecasting work developed for the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The research provides three-year quarterly travel demand forecasts for 39 Asia Pacific destinations. Prof Song was among an elite group of Forecasting in Practice Track speakers at ISF 2026.

​ ATF2026 Focus: Mongolia’s Tourism Demand Poised for Sustained Growth

The 15th Asian Tourism Forum (#ATF2026) was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from June 11 to 13, 2026. Under the theme "The Asian Paradigm in Hospitality and Tourism," this year's forum brought together scholars, industry representatives, and policymakers from 22 countries to collectively explore the future direction of Asia's tourism and hospitality industry. During the forum, Prof. Haiyan Song, Director of RCDTT, Associate Dean (Research) and Chair Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism, delivered a keynote presentation titled "Forecasts of Mongolia Tourism Demand," sharing key projections for Mongolia’s tourism. Based on the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts project—which covers 39 destinations and over 1,400 source-to-destination pairs—the forecast highlights a transparent, interpretable, two-stage forecasting methodology. By integrating policy and market information, this approach effectively transforms volatile data into actionable insights to support decision-making. According to the forecasts, Mongolia’s international visitor arrivals are expected to undergo a full recovery and sustain growth above the baseline. By the end of 2026, inbound tourist arrivals to Mongolia are projected to reach 161.83% of 2019 levels; by 2028, this figure is expected to rise further to 177.84%. However, the annual growth rate is also projected to moderate from 8.4% in 2026 to 4.1% in 2028, indicating that the market is gradually stabilizing and maturing after a strong initial rebound. In terms of source markets, Russia, China, and South Korea will continue to dominate Mongolia's inbound tourism, with their combined share projected to reach 79.47% by 2028. Specifically, Russia is poised to become the largest single source market by 2028. Meanwhile, as China's post-pandemic catch-up growth stabilizes, its market share is expected to gradually adjust to 28.71%. Other key source markets, including South Korea, Japan, and the United States, are also demonstrating varying paces of recovery and growth. Accurate tourism forecasting is far more than just numerical estimation; it serves as a critical foundation for industry recovery, strategic market positioning, and policy decision-making. RCdTT will continue to focus on how digitalization and data-driven approaches can empower the Asian tourism industry to transition toward a more sustainable future.

RCdTT and CTG Jointly Release Hong Kong Inbound Tourist Satisfaction Index Report

June 10, 2026, at the 2026 Hong Kong Tourism Development Forum & Win-Win Collaboration Tech-Empowerment- Supporting Hong Kong in Consolidating its Position as a World-Class Premier Tourism Destination. A milestone research output was officially unveiled. Presented by Professor Haiyan Song (Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism, Director of RCdTT, Associate Dean (Research) and Chair Professor of SHTM, PolyU), the launch ceremony marked the joint release of the "Hong Kong Inbound Tourist Satisfaction Index Report". This high-impact study was collaboratively prepared by the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) and the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCdTT) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, alongside the Research Institute of China Tourism Group Corporation Limited / China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited. Methodology & Key Insights: Employing state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) to analyze over 300,000 online reviews from Ctrip and TripAdvisor, the report evaluates inbound tourists' satisfaction across five core sectors: attractions, hotels, restaurants, retail, and transport. Key Findings: Inbound tourist satisfaction showed steady growth in 2025, with attractions leading the improvement. While responsiveness and assurance emerged as Hong Kong's key service strengths, the data highlights room for growth in reliability, empathy, and balanced district-level service provision. Strategic Recommendations: The report advocates for systematic enhancements in service consistency, multilingual services, district facilities, accessibility, and collaborative governance. Bridging Research and Global Impact: Moving forward, RCdTT will continue to focus on its core academic priorities, pioneering cutting-edge research at the intersection of tourism science and digital technology. Through advanced methodology and high-impact industry-academic collaborations, the Centre is dedicated to driving academic excellence, fostering evidence-based policymaking, and contributing to the sustainable development of global hospitality and tourism scholarship.

RCDTT Panel at PATA Summit 2026 in Gyeongju Probes AI’s Transformative Role in Tourism: “From Insights to Impacts”

GYEONGJU/HOHANG, 13 May 2026, Korea – The Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University hosted a high-profile panel discussion at the PATA Annual Summit 2026, drawing a packed and diverse audience of industry leaders, academics, and students. Titled “AI and the Future of Tourism: From Insights to Impacts,” the session offered a deep dive into how artificial intelligence is reshaping the travel industry and research. Chaired by Professor Haiyan Song, Director of RCDTT, Associate Dean (Research) and Chair Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism. The panel brought together a formidable cross-section of expertise. The distinguished panel members included Prof. Dan Wang (Associate Director of RCDTT), Prof. Bela Stantic (SHTM, PolyU), Dr. Yuzhou Huang (Founder & CEO of WDTrip), Mr. Bernard Metzger (Founder & CEO of TravelIndex), and Ms. Nadia Omer (CEO of AirAsia MOVE). Over the course of the insightful session, the panel explored four critical themes shaping the future of the industry: 1. AI and Its Impact on Business Operations. The panelists unanimously agreed that AI has moved beyond a novelty to an operational necessity. Ms. Omer shared how AirAsia MOVE utilizes AI for dynamic pricing and route optimization, while Mr. Metzger highlighted AI's role in streamlining back-end logistics for TravelIndex. Prof. Stantic warned, however, that companies must balance automation with human oversight to avoid systemic errors. 2. Personalization of AI-Driven Travel Experiences. Prof. Dan Wang presented RCdTT’s research findings on how AI algorithms can now predict traveler preferences with startling accuracy, moving from basic recommendations to hyper-personalized, real-time journey adjustments. Dr. Huang demonstrated how WDTrip is leveraging agentic AI to craft bespoke itineraries that evolve during the trip itself, turning “one-size-fits-all” into a relic of the past. 3. Bridging the Gap Between Academics and Practice A recurring theme was the pressing need to close the divide between theoretical research and real-world application. Professor Stantic noted that RCDTT is actively working to translate academic models into actionable tools for travel business  and destinations. The panel called for more industry-academia co-creation labs to ensure that cutting-edge research does not remain confined to journals. 4. The Future of AI in Tourism. Looking ahead, the discussion turned to ethical considerations, data privacy, and the potential for AI to drive sustainable tourism. While AI can optimize visitor flows to combat overtourism, speakers cautioned against algorithmic bias. The consensus was that the future will not be AI-led, but human-centric AI-assisted, where technology enhances, rather than replaces, the human touch. The session concluded with a lively Q&A, during which industry practitioners pressed the panel on practical implementation strategies. Professor Haiyan Song closed by thanking the speakers and the audience, reaffirming RCDTT’s commitment to leading evidence-based dialogue on digital transformation.

RCdTT and Open Sky Sign Strategic MOU to Drive AI Transformation in Tourism

  HONG KONG, May 8, 2026– The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), through its Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism (RCDTT), and Open Sky Travel Technology Limited (Open Sky) officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today. The signing ceremony took place during the "Phu Quoc – Your Ultimate Escape" Agent Seminar held at the New World Millennium Hong Kong Hotel, marking the commencement of a strategic partnership dedicated to advancing AI technology within the aviation and tourism sectors. The collaboration aims to integrate Open Sky’s proprietary SkyLLM/SkyLAM AI technology with PolyU’s world-class research expertise. Both parties intend to explore long-term synergies in research funding, academic sponsorship, and the commercialization of research outcomes to support digital transformation in the industry. Key areas of the collaboration include: Research & Innovation: Open Sky will provide specialized funding to support PolyU’s research on vertical Large Language Models (LLMs) for tourism demand forecasting and automated operations. Strategic Advisory: Prof. SONG Haiyan (Director of RCDTT, Associate Dean (Research) and Chair Professor of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, and Mr and Mrs Chan Chak Fu Professor in International Tourism) and Prof. WANG Dan (Associate Director of RCDTT) have been appointed as Chief Strategic Advisors to Open Sky. Talent Cultivation: Open Sky will provide internship opportunities and a real-world big data environment for PolyU’s PhD students and researchers. Resource Integration: Both parties will jointly apply for the government’s RAISe+ Scheme and other industry-academia-research grants to accelerate the industrial application of AI findings. This collaboration reinforces Hong Kong's role as a premier leader in global travel-tech innovation. Through this partnership, PolyU and Open Sky will continue to push the boundaries of AI, creating a more resilient and technologically advanced future for the international tourism community.