13 June
Local Date: Jun 13 2023 |
Local Time: 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
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Sònia Figueras, tourismologist and teacher by training, has more than 20 years of experience in education and 15 in tourism. Since 2004, she has worked at the UNWTO Academy for the 159 UNWTO Member States, the 92 education and training centers of the UNWTO.TedQual network and the DMOs of the UNWTO.QUEST network. Currently, as Program Manager, she leads and develops new projects of this organization, including the UNWTO.QUEST programme for Tourism Destination Management Organizations. |
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Omar Valdez holds a Bachelor degree in Public Relations and an Executive Master in Tourism Management at Instituto de Empresa, Madrid, Spain. Omar worked in different industries in Buenos Aires (Telecommunications, IT, Media) before moving to the Principality of Andorra, where he worked for Grandvalira for three years. In 2004, Omar joined the UNWTO.Themis Foundation as a Senior Consultant. Since 2010, Omar has been the Executive Director of the UNWTO Academy. |
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Antonio Carles' relationship with tourism started in 1996 developing a Quality Control system for the processes to be followed at the Official Spanish Tourism Offices. With a Master in Quality and Financial Auditing, he worked as a Tourism Quality Management Professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia for four years. His collaboration with UNWTO started in the year 2000, becoming a UNWTO.TedQual auditor in 2004 and has been collaborating with the UNWTO Academy since then. |
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Verónica González holds a Bachelor Degree in Tourism and Hospitality and a Master in Sustainable Destinations Management. She has worked in the Tourism and Hospitality sector for almost 20 years. In 2015 she joined the UNWTO Academy as a UNWTO.TedQual assistant. |
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Dr.Kazem Vafadari is Director of International Center for Asia Pacific Tourism (iCAPt); academic director of the Kunisaki city research center for world agriculture heritage, Oita, Japan and Professor, Graduate school of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) Tourism and Hospitality (THP) Beppu, Japan. He worked with United Nations University and Kanazawa University in Japan before joining APU in 2011. He is an expert on Sustainable Tourism and natural resource management and tourism applications of agriculture heritage landscapes. His research background also includes community building and rural revitalization and destination branding. |
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Jafar Jafari is Founding Editor, Annals of Tourism Research; Chief Editor, Tourism Social Science Series; Co-Editor, Bridging Tourism Theory and Practice; Co-Editor, Encyclopedia of Tourism; Co-Founder, TRINET; Founding President, International Academy for the Study of Tourism; Co-Founding Editor, Information Technology & Tourism; and Co-Founding President Tourism Intelligence Forum. |
![]() | Sonia Figueras Moderator |
![]() | Omar Valdez Speaker |
![]() | Antonio Carles Speaker |
![]() | Verónica González Speaker |
![]() | Kazem Vafadari Welcomeremarks |
![]() | Jafar Jafari Introduction |