We are very pleased to welcome Professor Xu Honggang of Sun Yat-Sen University (Guangzhou, China) to the senior editorial team of Tourism Geographies. She is replacing Shaul Krakover, who is retiring this year, and joining Michael Hall, Jarkko Saarinen (who recently replaced Allan Williams) and myself as the main editors of the journal. (Note that with this appointment, we are dropping the regional designations for each of the editors.) Dr. Xu has been a key faculty member in making Sun Yat-Sen University a leader in tourism research, and is a frequent presenter at international geography and tourism conferences around the world. She was a guest editor in for a fascinating special issue of Tourism Geographies (2014, v.16 #5) on recent tourism geography research in China, and has published widely in leading international journals with her students and colleagues in China and abroad. Some of her papers and profile can be found at ResearchGate.net. We are fortunate to have Dr. Xu as a member of our editorial team and look forward to the new ideas and energy that she brings to us. |
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Professor Victor B. Teye was on the original Editorial Board for Tourism Geographies and served on the journal until his retirement a few years ago. He was originally from Ghana, about which he wrote in Tourism Geographies (1999). Victor was a good friend and a dedicated teacher of both tourism studies and the world, having taken an astonishingly large number of students on summer study abroad trips during his many years at Arizona State University. The following was excerpted from his formal obituary:
His long-time colleague. Professor Dallen Timothy, offers some memories of Victor, below. Dear Friends and Colleagues, With heavy hearts and a deep sense of loss, we at Arizona State University wish to inform the tourism community of Victor Teye’s passing earlier this week. Our forever youthful Victor B. Teye was a pioneer in tourism research. His groundbreaking work, which appeared often in the top journals, shed much light on political instability and tourism, community development through tourism and tourism in developing regions. He was a vanguard in tourism research in Africa and a staunch defender of tourism education and research. Following his stellar career at Arizona State University for many years, Victor retired just a few years ago to spend more time with his family. He was an exemplary father, outstanding educator, tremendous scholar and very dear friend to many. Professor Victor B. Teye will be sorely missed in every corner on the globe but no more so than here at home. Sincerely yours, Dallen Timothy (photos of Victor in Australia provided by Dallen Timothy) Dr Dallen J. Timothy, Professor School of Community Resources and Development Arizona State University Phoenix, AZ 95004, USA Robert Preston-Whyte (1939 - 2015) was a founding Editorial Board Member for Tourism Geographies and an active member of the Commission on the Geography of Tourism, Leisure and Global Change of the International Geographical Union (IGU). He was instrumental in organizing the IGU meeting in Durban in 2002, after which Rob led several of us on a great field trip of KwaZulu-Natal. He was an early contributor to Tourism Geographies (1999 and 2002) and will be well remembered by those who knew him for his enthusiasm for life. Below is an more complete obituary of Rob's academic career, which is reposted here with permission of his colleagues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. OBITUARY: PROFESSOR ROB PRESTON-WHYTE
It is with deep sadness that we inform the University and the broader geography community of the death, after a short illness, of Emeritus Professor of the previous School of Environmental Sciences, Professor Robert Preston-Whyte. Born in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, it is fitting that Rob lived out his life, after his retirement from the University of KwaZuluNatal, on his small holding in Nottingham Road. Here he and his wife, Merle Holden were able to explore their many interests and find peace and happiness. Rob was a true product of the former University of Natal, completing all his formal studies on the Pietermaritzburg campus and spending most of his working life in the Geography and Environmental Science Department on the Howard College campus, except for a brief stint at the CSIR in Pretoria. Rob was a true scholar and intellectual. He was widely read, being equally comfortable discussing English literature as he was meteorological theory. His greatest scientific contribution was to our understanding of the local circulations of KwaZulu-Natal. He gathered his data the hard way – many days and nights spent tracking pilot balloons with a theodolite – but was ultimately able to establish the characteristics and mechanisms of the land and sea breezes and topographically-induced winds in KZN. This knowledge has contributed to our understanding of local pollution transport, occurrence of coastal rainfall, the initiation and passage of thunderstorms across KZN, amongst other meteorological patterns. Geographers of the time will remember his vision, prescience and astute academic management when, as Professor, and Head of Department in the 1970’s and eighties, he successfully shifted the ethos of his department. It moved from one of dry, antiquated academia to that of a teaching and research institution that not only created the intellectual challenges of theory and debate, but engaged in strong teaching and research into elements of Physical and Human Geography that had immediate impact on the daily life of communities. During the eighties and nineties he became convinced that the discipline of geography, through its inclusiveness and its strong natural and social science foundations, should become a scientific and academic leader in the wave of environmental of concern sweeping the world. He soon recognised that accurate maps and global scale environmental monitoring would be essential to successful environmental management, and brought in the skills necessary for developing a strong teaching and research programme in burgeoning Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing industry. These monumental shifts in approach increased the stature and reputation of Geography in a spectacular way, and built student demand for the subject hugely, especially at the post-graduate level. The department was now producing not only academics, but also young professionals who would find their place in career positions in commerce and industry in South Africa and beyond. In the latter years of his academic career, Rob shifted his interests to tourism geography, writing creatively about liminal spaces on the Durban coastline. This reflected his exceptional ability to work on internationally recognised research both within the physical and social sciences. As such, he was a true geographer. However, it was his early work in climatology that made its mark and that led to a landmark text book that was prescribed reading for climatology students across South Africa. In the broader University community Rob will be remembered for his 10 years spent as Dean of Social Sciences. During his period of office he brought the faculty to a position of leadership within the university – at one point its publication to staff ratio was the best in the whole institution, this notwithstanding his constant battles with higher administration for a fairer division of resources and his intense dislike of the political machinations at that stage current in University politics in general. It is typical of the man that after his retirement in 2004 he was able to re-invent himself. He returned to his roots in the Natal Midlands. His almost endless, inspirational energy was expended not on academic battles any longer, but in developing his small holding in an environmentally consistent manner. His horses, golf, and clay pigeon shooting intertwined with creative writing and before his death he had already published four novels. Rob was in his element on geography field trips, when he was able to enthusiastically impart his wide general knowledge about the fauna and flora, stratigraphy, local climate and local community, to students. Generations of students will recall trying to keep up with him as he strode up mountains at a pace that few could match. Always young and fit for his age, his untimely and sudden death from melanoma cancer is a shock to all of us. Rob was a visionary, an exceptional leader, an inspiring intellectual and a true friend. What a privilege it was to know, work with and be taught by such a passionate, inspirational and committed individual. Professor Roseanne Diab, Executive Officer, Acadmy of Science of South Africa and Emeritus Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Professor Gerry Garland, Past-Chairman, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, University of United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE Dr. Catherine Sutherland, Lecturer, School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
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