MU at the International Conference on Tourism and Business in Bangkok

Bangkok’s Mahidol University International College, widely regarded as running the best hospitality and tourism management programs in English in Thailand, recently hosted the International Conference on Tourism and Business in cooperation with partner institution Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. The three-day event was the first international conference of its kind held at Mahidol, on the topic of “Sustainable & Creative Business Models”.

MU’s Prof. Andreas Zins presented a recent study on the economic viability of a mid-sized city hotel entirely subscribing to the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility. The study was conceived by alumni Sebastian Ochs and Andreas Goll, who worked through a hypothetical yet very operational business plan under the supervision of Prof. Zins during their MBA studies at MODUL University Vienna.

While the 60 conference papers had a broad scope of topics, types of inquiries and results, the panel topics focused on challenges and trends on the hospitality education with views from both academia and industry.

The Senior Vice President of Operations & Global Initiatives, Lothar R. Pohl, from Starwood Asia gave interesting insight into Starwood’s views and challenges speaking about “The age of great change” and their internal HR programs “Starwood Journeys” and “Starwood Cares” in his keynote speech. In the second keynote, Hong Kong PolyU’s Prof. Bob McKercher contributed to a panel discussion and gave a half-day seminar on “How to get published”, sharing his valuable insights, experiences and hints.

The conference was a great success for Mahidol University International College and for our faculty and alumni whose work was showcased in this international arena!

Image: Prof. Andreas Zins listens intently to the presentations