The oldest international association of scientific experts in tourism worldwide chose Varna for its 69^th Annual Conference that will be hosted by Prof. Stanislav Ivanov, Vice Rector (Research) of Varna University of Management, Bulgaria.

From 25th to 29th August 2019 the 69th Annual Conference of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) will be held in Varna. The event is hosted by Prof. Stanislav Ivanov – Vice Rector (Research) of Varna University of Management and member of the AIEST Committee.

The annual AIEST conference is being held in a different location every year and Bulgaria hasn’t hosted the event for 40 years. It is an interesting fact that back in 1979 it was again the Sea Capital of Bulgaria that hosted the 29th edition of the AIEST Conference at the Grand Hotel Varna in the resort of “St. St. Konstantin and Helena” (known as Drouzhba at that time) and was dedicated to the topic of manpower in tourism.

This year the conference focuses on business models for sustainable growth of tourism, perspectives and tourism frontiers. The event will be attended by over 40 scientific experts from 16 countries: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Malta, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Among the participants in the forum are Prof. Dr. Harald Pechlaner – AIEST President and Head of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany, and Prof. Dr. Christian Laesser – AIEST Secretary General and Professor at the Institute for Systemic Management and Public Governance, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The keynote speaker will be Iis Tussyadiah, Professor of Intelligent Systems in Service and Head of Department of Hospitality at University of Surrey, UK. Prof. Tussyadiah’s research interest centers around the applications and implications of artificial intelligence, particularly in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors. Since 2018 she is the President of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT), as well as a founding member of Alliance for Innovators and Researchers in Tourism and Hospitality (AIRTH).

The official opening of the 69th Annual AIEST Conference will be on August 26, 2019 from 9:30 am at „Darzalas” Hall of the Rosslyn Dimyat Hotel. This year’s main theme is “Tourism Frontiers: Theories, Practices, Methodologies” and part of the planned sessions are “Sustainability in Tourism and Hospitality”, “Destination Management”, “Customer Behavior”, “Business Models and Management” and others.

The International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) was founded in 1951 and is considered to be one of the main drivers for the development of scientific activities in the field of tourism and hospitality. It has over 300 researchers from nearly 50 countries on all continents. For its annual conferences, AIEST always selects topical issues that are of interest to practitioners in the tourism business and representatives of the scientific community. More about AIEST can be found at https://www.aiest.org .