Assistant Professor Dr. Yang Zhang of Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management published a research paper in that leading journal of tourism research in recent days. This publication is co-promoted by Professor Noel B. Salazar (University of Leuven). The publication turns out to be one of a series of breakthroughs at the Faculty in international cooperation of academic research under the leadership of Dean Professor Michael Hitchcock and Assistant Dean Dr. Lai Ka-Wai. The paper analyzed Chinese seasonal tourists, whose cultural practices originate from and provide new meaning to traditional Chinese elite culture. It places contemporary seasonal lifestyle tourism in China in its broader socio-historical context and describe how recent political changes have reshaped the place and significance of these practices within Chinese culture at large. Grounded in an anthropological approach, this paper drew on an exploratory qualitative study of seasonal tourists in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, to illustrate the multiple issues and reveal surprising similarities as well as expected differences between Chinese seasonal lifestyle tourism and comparable practices described in the scholarly literature elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Dr. Yang Zhang’s another research paper, The Chinese Female Tourist Gaze: A Netnography of Young Women’s Blogs on Macau, has won the Best Paper Award in 2013 International Conference of Tourism in Limassol, Cyprus. This paper is one of the research results of the research project “Macau Tourism Management Series Research (No. 0252)” leaded by Dr. Yong Zhou and is funded by Macau Foundation (2012-2013). Dean Professor Michael Hitchcock gave great suggestions and help in the write process of this paper as well. Winning this award not only shows the research level of MUST has reached international standard but also is a successful example of team collaboration in academic research at the Faculty.
Dr. Yang Zhang’s academic achievement made remarkable contribution to the community and enhanced the reputation of MUST in international academia. It also shows that MUST have great progress in this research field of tourism and hospitality and has great potential for research and development in the future.
