Zheng Xiang appointed assistant professor of hospitality and tourism management

5 Aug 2013

Zheng Xiang has been appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.

Xiang is one of nine faculty members at Pamplin this fall. They are part of the college’s efforts to strengthen and expand its teaching, research, and business outreach programs under the leadership of Robert Sumichrast, who became dean in July.

Xiang holds a Ph.D. in business administration with a concentration in tourism management from Temple University and a master of science in leisure studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

His research focuses on three areas: the impact of information technologies on the hospitality and tourism industry, destination marketing strategy, and information systems development for tourist destinations.

A member of the board of the International Federation for Information Technologies in Travel and Tourism, Xiang also serves as research chair of the federation’s “ENTER 2014” eTourism Conference in Dublin, Ireland, and co-guest editor of a special issue on smart tourism in Electronic Markets. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on information technology strategies in hospitality and tourism.

Xiang has extensive experience in developing information systems for destination marketing organizations in several U.S. cities and states. He and his colleagues have been recognized for their work in search engine marketing and social media marketing and have received research grants and contracts, including the International Collaborative Research Grant, sponsored by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A number of his co-authored articles have received Best Paper awards.

Xiang serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Information Technology and Tourism (book review editor), Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Journal of China Tourism Research, and Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science.