How can the tourism industry respond to the global challenges arising from climate change and environmental degradation?

Vikneswaran Nair is a Professor at the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He has a PhD in Systems Engineering (Ecotourism Systems) and more than 20 years’ research experience in the field of sustainable tourism and environmental management. An award-winning researcher and consultant with extensive publications to his credit, he received the Outstanding Young Malaysian of the Year Award in 2006 and 2009. He is currently Vice President of the Malaysian Ecotourism Association and is leading one of the biggest research grants awarded to a private university. The study is measuring the health of rural tourism destinations in Malaysia in terms of responsible tourism and carrying capacity.

Badaruddin Mohamed is a Professor in tourism planning at the School of Housing, Building and Planning (HBP), Universiti Sains Malaysia. He received his PhD and MSc in Tourism Planning and Development from Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan. He is a seasoned researcher and consultant with numerous publications, and he has supervized many international PhD students to successful completion.

Toney K. Thomas is an Associate Professor at the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. He is also the Deputy Dean of the Tourism, Events & Recreation Department of the School. His research expertize is on destination benchmarking, destination development, sustainable tourism development and tourism impact studies.

Richard Teare is a Theme Editor at the Banbury, UK. His research expertize is on Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) aims to make a practical and theoretical contribution to hospitality and tourism development and seeks to do this by using a key question to focus attention on an industry issue. If you would like to contribute to our work by serving as a WHATT theme editor, do please contact the Managing Editor, Dr Richard Teare.