Two UM scholars receive int’l tourism awards

Two scholars from the University of Macau (UM) have received awards in two different international tourism conferences for their research papers.

Jacey Choe, an assistant professor from UM’s Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management, won the Young Scientist Award at the Ninth International Conference on Tourism (ICOT) for her paper titled “Food Neophobia and Tourists.”

According to a statement issued by UM, the paper explores whether tourists have different levels of food neophobia based on their socio-demographics.

The paper examines the impact of food neophobia on tourists’ food consumption values and behavioral intention in the context of food tourism.

Meanwhile, Yeongbae Choe, another assistant professor from the same department, received the Young Scholar Award (first place) at the 2019 Pan Asia International Tourism Conference for his paper titled “Designing AI for Destination Marketing: A Case Study of Northern Indiana.” 

Statistics derived from online clickstream data were merged with visitors’ demographic and tripographic information obtained from a pop-up survey.

Statistics show that the process and data used in this study provided a “proof of concept” for developing more personalized marketing systems, which can substantially improve the competitiveness of destination marketing organizations.

UM stated that Yeongbae Choe received the Young Scholar Award for the originality of the research idea, theoretical and managerial implications, sound research methodology, and research potential. LV