Prof. Egon Smeral joins MU faculty
August 12, 2011
MODUL University Vienna is pleased to welcome Professor Egon Smeral to the faculty! Professor Smeral is a stalwart in the Austrian Tourism educational milieu, and he brings decades of experience to his post at MU. Since 1974, he has been involved in Austrian Institute of Economic Research. His academic credentials include teaching positions at a multitude of universities throughout Austria and Switzerland, as well as study leaves in the USA, Hong Kong, and the UK.
He is currently the chairman of the advisory board on tourism strategy for the Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth (BMWFJ), where he has been an economic policy consultant since 1990. Other positions currently held include vice-president of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST), member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST), the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA), the Tourist Research Center (TRC), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismuswissenschaft (DGT), and the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF). His editorial activities include serving as resource editor of the journal Annals of Tourism Research, and editorial board member of The Tourist Review, The Journal of Travel Research, Anatolia, Tourism Economics, Tourism Management and Tourism Analysis.
Within the realm of tourism and leisure economics, Prof. Smeral’s specialized field of expertise is in structural change and regional development. Here, his emphasis on applied economic theory and policy focuses on tourism, leisure and services industries, econometrics and forecasting methods, modeling, tourism satellite accounts, and "impact" analyses. His work includes development and assessment of tourism-policy programs, and marketing strategies.
He likes city trips and walking tours and is a dedicated long distance runner. Most of his leisure time is spent enjoying the quiet life at his country house in the Weinviertel.
At MU, he will be teaching the master thesis tutorial in International Tourism Management.
