Dimitrios Buhalis at Bournemouth University Research Festival of Learning
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis has been working on technology enabled strategic marketing for over three decades! He has been been researching the disruptive nature of technology for strategic management and marketing and is constantly looking for tools and methods to develop products and services and strengthening their competitiveness. Numerous PhD students from around the world are part of the knowledge cocreation process and the leading research themes.
Much of this research has been developed in collaboration with a global network of researchers as well as research teams at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China (Professors Rob Law and Haiyan Song); Aveiro University, Portugal (Professor Carlos Costa); Salzburg University of Applied Science, Austria (Professors Roman Egger and Barbara Neuhofer) and University Technology Sydney, Australia (Professor Simon Darcy).
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis current research areas include:
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Buhalis VR Virtual Reality Lab 2
Digital Strategic Marketing and Smart Tourism
Internet of things, Internet of Everything, Big Data and Distributed computing for Tourism
Artificial intelligence and robots
Digital Ecosystems and Network competitiveness
Technology enabled eTourism ecosystems
Digital / Virtual graffiti
Wearables, Ambient Intelligence and Semantic Web
Smart tourism and hospitality - Strategic Management and Marketing
Value Chain and Value System optimisation
Distribution channels for tourism and hospitality
Real time cocreation and the service of now tourism
Experience economy and Peer to Peer services - Social media engagement and technology-enabled cocreation of experiences
Consumer requirements and experience cocreation
tourism/leisure experience and consumer behaviour
Reputation management on-line
Social Media Return on Investment
Social media, human resources and employment
Virtual and Augmented Reality experiences
Gaming, gamification and Tourism - Accessible tourism and tourism for all
Inclusive design and design for all
Abilities and disabilities management
Tourism and travel for the disabled
Allergens (Gluten, Lactose, Sugar, etc Free food)
Inclusive hospitality
Travel with Diabetes
Dine with a Gluten Free Diet
His research career started at the Business School of the University of the Aegean in Greece when he was appointed in 1997 by Professor Nicolas Litinas as a research assistant for with the STAR European Project. The STAR project was exploring how telecoms (fax was the innovation of that time!) can support Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Buhalis was put in charge of the tourism and hospitality sectors and SMEs in the Aegean region in Greece whilst on the third year of his BBA degree. Since 1987, Buhalis has been researching on digital marketing and exploring how technology can revolutionise strategic management and marketing in the vertical market of tourism and hospitality.
Dimitrios Buhalis with his teachers Professors Chris Cooper, John Fletcher, Stephen Wanhill
He effectively invented eTourism, as documented in the eTourism book published in 2003, as an area exploring how technology can revolutionise production and distribution of tourism and hospitality organisations and destinations. As part of his STAR contribution he designed in 1989 the first Destination Management System in the world (the System Aegean) that was trialled during the 1990-1992 period in Greece. This innovative concept was the developed later as part of Dimitrios PhD at the University of Surrey and was published in 1993 as Regional Integrated Computer Information Reservation Management Systems (RICIRMS) as a strategic tool for the small and medium tourism enterprises, Tourism Management. In parallel the Gulliver system was developed in Ireland, also through STAR funding. Both systems were the pioneers of Destination Management Systems that proliferated the market later.
Buhalis has been researching the use of technology and digital tools for strategic management and marketing. First proprietary systems, such as Property Management Systems (PMS) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that enabled organisations to better organise and manage their inventory and distribution. Distributed systems such as Destination Management Systems (DMS) and eventually internet based systems. The development of the internet enabled organisations to employ distributed systems and use Web 1.o platforms to communicate their offerings and facilitate eCommerce transactions. The development of social media and the Web 2.0 era supported interactivity with consumers and stakeholders through two way communications and engagement. More recently, the Web 3.0 environment propels smart tourism and agility through machine to machine communication, big data, the internet of things and artificial intelligence.
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| Dimitrios Buhalis and Roman Egger | Dimitrios Buhalis at Hong Kong Polytechnic University China with Rob Law, Haiyan Song, and Bob Mckercher |
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| Dimitrios Buhalis with Simon Darcy at University Technology Sydney, Australia | International Academy for the Study of Tourism Dimitrios Buhalis Alison Gill, Bob Mckercher, Sara Dolnicar |
Dimitrios Buhalis with the IFITT Presidents Hannes Werthner, Josef Margreiter, Andrew Frew,
Professor Buhalis has also be playing a very active role in developing the community to expand this research area. Dimitrios is an active ENTER and the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT) Founding Member since 1994. He was Board Member (1996-2005), Vice President (2000-2005) and then President (2010-2014) of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism (IFITT). He chaired more that 10 ENTER conferences in several roles and engaged Researchers, PhD Students, Industry and Destinations in dynamic knowledge cocreation. IFITT and the ENTER Conferences have been instrumental for the development of the eTourism global community and to establish it as a credible research field.
More recently, after his election to the International Academy for the Study of Tourism in 2009 and his then election as First Vice President in 2017, Buhalis collaborates closely with the executive to develop the global tourism community and encourage tourism knowledge cocreation globally.
Academy for the Study of Tourism, Meeting in Atrium Hotel, Rhodes, Greece
Dimitrios Buhalis with Journal Editors
This research has been published in a variety of top journals including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Review, Current Issues of Tourism, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration, Information Technology & Tourism, Journal of China Tourism Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, International Journal of Tourism Cities, Journal of Tourism Futures, Tourism Tribune, Estudios Turísticos, FIU Hospitality Review, The Cornell Hotel Restaurant Administration Quarterly, PASOS, China Tourism Research, Tourism Recreation Research, International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, Turistica: Trimestrale di Economica-Management-Marketing, International Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Administration Journal, Pacific Tourism Review, Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, as well as generic Marketing and Information Journals such as Journal of Marketing Management, The Service Industries Journal, Information & Management, Information & Management, Electronic Markets, International Journal of Fuzzy System Applications, International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Service Management, International Journal of Online Marketing, International Journal of Information Management, Qualitative Market Research, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Education and Training.
