Professor Sangwon Park is a Professor in the College of Hotel and Tourism Management at Kyung Hee University, Korea, and a Visiting Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has published over 90 papers in leading international journals and has been recognized globally for his scholarly contributions. In 2019, he received the Emerging Scholar of Distinction Award from the International Academy for the Study of Tourism, and in 2022, he was listed among the top 1% of researchers worldwide in social science by Clarivate. His research focuses on the intersection of information technology and tourism, with particular emphasis on big data analytics, artificial intelligence applications, and digital marketing strategies in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Hannes Werthner studied computer science at the Vienna University of Technology, graduating in 1979 with a degree in engineering. He received his doctorate in technical sciences (Dr. techn.) in 1981 and his habilitation in applied computer science in 1994. From 1991, he was an assistant at the Institute for Statistics, Operations Research (OR), and Computer Methods at the University of Vienna, and from 1994, a lecturer in applied computer science. In 1999/2000, he was a professor and head of the Department of Business Informatics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Subsequently, until 2004, he was a professor of computer science and e-commerce at the University of Trento, where he also headed the E-Commerce and Tourism Research Lab (eCTRL). He was then appointed professor of business informatics and e-tourism at the University of Innsbruck.

In 2006, he moved to the Institute for Software Engineering and Interactive Systems at the Vienna University of Technology as a professor of e-commerce. From 2016 he was also Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at TU Wien. In 2019 he was succeeded in this role by Gerti Kappel.

In his academic work, he focuses on e-commerce, recommender systems, and e-tourism. From 1989 to 1991, he developed the Tyrolean Tourism Information System (TIS) for Tirol Werbung (Tyrol Tourism). From 1997 to 2000, he served as President of the International Federation for IT and Tourism. In 2004, he was entrusted with the implementation of a European tourism portal funded by the EU. He also co-founded the E-commerce Competence Center (EC3), a research center in the field of e-commerce, in 2000, and was the scientific coordinator of the Austrian Network for e-tourism from 2004 to 2006.

The Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award, named after him, has been presented annually by the International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) since 2011. Recipients have included Arno Ebner (2011), Inkeri Starry (2012), Daniel R. Fesenmaier (2013, Temple University), Pauline Sheldon (2014, University of Hawaii), Josef Mazanec (2015), Gert van der Pijl (2016, Erasmus University Rotterdam), and Rodolfo Baggio (2017, Bocconi University).

In August 2017, his candidacy on the Peter Pilz list for the 2017 National Council election was announced. He was ninth on the federal list but did not win a seat in the National Council.

Mimi Li is a Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) and serves as the Associate Director of the Research Centre for Digital Transformation of Tourism at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests include consumer behavior in tourism, family and children tourism, and the intersection of tourism and mental health.
Since 2020, Professor Li has been listed among the Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists Worldwide in the field of Sports, Leisure, and Tourism by Stanford University and Elsevier. She serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, and Asia Pacific Journal of Travel Research.

Professor Li holds several service positions within the academic community, including Elected Fellow of the International Association for China Tourism Studies, Vice President of the Tourism Geography Sub-Committee of the Geographical Society of China, and Vice President of the Regional Tourism Planning Committee of the Regional Economics Association of China. She is also an Adjunct Researcher at the International Center for Recreation and Tourism Research at Peking University.

George Cao is a destination marketing and travel technology expert. As co-founder and CEO of Dragon Trail International, he and his team have helped more than 500 tourism clients from 45 countries reach and connect with affluent Chinese consumers. Dragon Trail's clients include some of the world's largest travel brands as well as small and medium sized businesses from local communities.

George is a recognized thought leader in outbound travel from China and a regular speaker at international travel conferences.

Leveraging his experience building technology start-ups in Silicon Valley, George has built Dragon Trail into an innovative marketing agency with market-leading solutions such as China Travel Academy, The Next Travel Market, CTALive event management platform and Travel Trade Hub.

Prior to co-founding Dragon Trail, George lived in the US for over a decade, working primarily in hotel distribution, revenue management and innovative Internet technologies. He has been involved in several technology start-ups in both the US and China.

After early training in the hotel industry with Holiday Inn and Hyatt in China, George attended the Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, New York and earned a Master's Degree in Hospitality Management.

Kongju Jung is a Senior Director at ezpmp, premier Tourism Management & MICE enterprise in Korea. As a leading expert in the commercialization of Smart Tourism Technology, she brings over 20 years of expertise to the industry and currently leads the SaaS (Software as a Service) business tailored for the public sector and regional destination.

Over the past five years, Director Jung and her team have established and operated digital platforms in collaboration with more than 10 local governments. These initiatives aim to address tourism imbalances by expanding travel demand into regional areas.

As a "Digital Hub," her platform manages local tourism resources, connects them with private service providers, and leverages user data for targeted marketing, digital incentives, and performance-based management systems.

Recently, her professional focus has been on lowering entry barriers for regional destinations by transitioning traditional, high-cost, and time-intensive infrastructure into subscription-based digital services.

She is dedicated to engineering sustainable tourism ecosystems. At WCST 2026, she discusses the strategic implementation of SaaS platforms and her visionary role in leading the Digital Transformation of regional tourism cities.

With nearly 20 years of experience in hospitality technology, Mr. Loi is a seasoned leader in IT, digital transformation, and innovation across leading resorts and golf destinations in Vietnam. He has held key technology leadership roles at prestigious properties including Furama Resort Da Nang, InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, Melia Danang, and Amiana Nha Trang. Throughout his career, he has successfully led IT operations, digital transformation initiatives, and large-scale system deployments, contributing to multiple industry accolades and ensuring seamless support for major international events such as APEC 2017.

Mr. Loi currently holds multiple senior leadership roles across the hospitality, retail, building management, and technology innovation ecosystem. Since 2022, he serves as Director of Technology & Innovation at Furama Resort Da Nang. He is also Director of Digital Business & Innovation at Menas Group, leading the AI team and developing Menas DX in Customer 360 and revenue analytics, as well as driving online revenue growth. Since 2023, he has been Technology Director for HorecFex Vietnam – the leading Horeca industry innovation event in Southeast Asia. He also serves as a Training Expert for the ST4SD Project – Swiss Tourism for Sustainable Development in Vietnam (2024–2027), funded by SECO and co-implemented by Helvetas Vietnam. Beyond his corporate roles, Mr. Loi is the founder of AIHS, Bee – AI Hotel Concierge, a restaurant table reservation app, and multiple revenue & operations digital solutions. He is also the official Vietnam partner for Myma AI, as well as the Vietnam partner for AIAIVN and EM&AI.