Dimitrios Buhalis
Professor, Bournemouth University, UK
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis, of Bournemouth University, is internationally recognised as a leading authority in smart tourism and hospitality, strategic management, and technology-enabled innovation across the tourism, travel, and hospitality sectors. His pioneering contributions to smart hospitality, digital transformation, smart service ecosystems, and the adoption of artificial intelligence and metaverse technologies have profoundly shaped both academic discourse and industry practice. Professor Buhalis’s research focuses on developing smart, agile, and interoperable hospitality enterprises capable of leveraging AI, big data analytics, immersive technologies, and real-time experience management to enhance competitiveness in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. His intellectual leadership includes advancing key concepts such as smart hospitality, metaverse-enabled service design, and the paradigm of “nowness,” emphasising the importance of real-time, context-aware experiences.
His extensive scholarly output—35 books and more than 500 publications—continues to influence global research agendas on technology adoption, value co-creation, and experiential optimisation. With nearly 100,000 Google Scholar citations, he ranks among the world’s most cited scholars in hospitality, tourism, marketing, and strategy, reflecting his far-reaching academic influence and professional impact. In addition to his research, Professor Buhalis serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Review, the oldest journal in tourism studies, where he leads efforts to advance rigorous, innovative scholarship within the global research community. He is also the creator and Editor of the Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing, a landmark reference work that consolidates cutting-edge knowledge from leading experts worldwide and provides a foundational resource for researchers, educators, and industry professionals.
As a highly sought-after keynote speaker and strategic advisor, Professor Buhalis collaborates extensively with international organisations, governments, and major global corporations. He regularly delivers keynote addresses and executive seminars at premier conferences, offering visionary leadership and evidence-based insights into technology-driven innovation and guest-centric strategies.
Workshop: Research Funding: Hard nut to crack?
Professor Levent Altinay will share his experience of successful funding applications to the prestigious funding bodies including EU, Horizon, ESRC (Economic Social Research Council), Newton, British Academy, British Council and TUBITAK. During the workshop, Altinay will cover a wide range of topics including creative idea generation for research funding, formation of multidisciplinary research consortiums, use of networks, research design, dissemination of research findings and the generation of academically robust, practically meaningful research impact.