Tourism and hospitality experts head to AUT

Hundreds of international experts in tourism, hospitality and events are meeting in Auckland for the 30th conference of the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE).

Being held at the Auckland University of Technology from today to Thursday 13th February, the hosting marks just the third time the annual conference has been held in New Zealand, and the first time it has been in Auckland.

With more than 280 academics attending, CAUTHE 2020 is also the largest so far, with more papers set to be published out of it than in previous years.

Looking forward to the event, co-organiser Dr Tracy Harkison states "we have an enormous amount of pride in hosting this conference, particularly in AUT's 20th year.

“It's great to showcase the strength that we have in the fields of hospitality, tourism, events and culinary arts at our university."

The theme for this year’s conference is 20:20 Vision: New Perspectives on the diversity of Hospitality, Tourism and Events.

Dr Harkison adds "hospitality is very diverse at the best of times, in terms of culture, religion, ethnicity, and countries - even when looking simply just at East and West or at how we celebrate.

“The world is a global village and it's great to see what other people are doing; to look at the shared successes as well as the issues that everyone is facing.”