Professor Billy Bai is Associate Dean (Academic Affairs) and Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He previously held several leadership positions at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, including Department Chair, Associate Dean, Senior Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, and Assistant Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at the UNLV Singapore campus.

Professor Bai holds a PhD and an MSc from Purdue University, an MPhil from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a BA from Nankai University. He is also a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE). His research interests include consumer behaviour in hospitality and tourism, the impact of technology on decision-making, branding and loyalty, and destination marketing. He teaches hospitality and tourism marketing, service quality and management, and contemporary hospitality and tourism issues. His research has been published in leading hospitality and tourism journals, and he has received numerous research awards, including the John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award from I-CHRIE. He also actively contributes to the profession through workshops, panel discussions, keynote speeches, and programme reviews.

Professor Jiyong Park is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Information Systems at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. He received his PhD in Information Systems from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2019. He also holds two bachelor’s degrees from the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), in Industrial and Management Engineering and Mathematics.

His research interests include digital sustainability, Green IS, the societal impacts of information technology, the economics of information systems, and causal inference. His research has been published in leading journals, including Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems. Professor Park currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Decision Sciences Journal, Decision Support Systems, and Information & Management.

Hak-chan Choi is Co-Chief Executive Officer of EZPMP, a leading MICE and tourism technology company in the Republic of Korea. With more than 20 years of experience in the MICE and events industry, he has been involved in major projects including the 2012 Yeosu Expo and the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit.

Under his leadership, EZPMP has expanded from event planning and operations into MICE technology and smart tourism. The company has developed digital solutions such as O2MEET and SMARTRIP, supporting the digital transformation of conferences, exhibitions, business events, and tourism destinations.

Mr Choi also led EZPMP’s participation in the development of Suwon Hwaseong Smart Tourism City. The company developed the Suwon Hwaseong GO! 365 application, offering integrated tourism information, digital travel services, and immersive experiences through virtual, augmented, and extended reality technologies. He advocates for the use of technology to connect people, destinations, and industries, and to create more seamless and innovative experiences across the global MICE and tourism sectors.

“Improving the AI Legal Framework to Promote Smart Tourism”

Doyoung Song advises clients, handles litigation, and provides consultancy services in the areas of AI, personal data protection, information security, and trade secrets. He has recently provided comprehensive legal advice on the legislative processes for the AI Framework Act and the AI Data Center Special Act.

Sun Bowen, Vice President of Convergent International Travel, former Executive Secretary-General of Trip.com Group Institute and Vice President of the Inbound Tourism Chapter of China Association of Travel Services, possesses a highly international background. He holds dual master's degrees in Information Systems and MBA. He graduated from Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is currently pursuing a Doctor degree in Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. During his tenure at Convergent, he was primarily responsible for the global travel and leisure business segment. His role involved exploring innovative applications integrating AI, streamlining destination supply chain systems, and formulating as well as executing strategies for cross-border tourism—with a particular focus on inbound tourism.

During his tenure at Trip.com Group, he led the research team to collaborate with various universities and think tanks on national key research projects, identifying opportunities and challenges in cultural tourism development. He was primarily responsible for researching and commercializing models including rural tourism, smart tourism, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions), inbound tourism, and tourism talent cultivation at the group level. Additionally, as the former General Manager of Inbound Tourism at Trip.com Group, Sun Bowen led his team in building and refining the overall inbound tourism marketing and product system, strengthening the upstream, midstream, and downstream supply chain foundations required for the inbound tourism industry, thereby empowering its development. Previously, as Operations Director of Trip.com Group Accommodation Business Group, he was responsible for the online operations of hotel businesses in northern China, including hotel ranking, pricing systems, and service process development.

I am Yu Huihui, Co-founder & General Manager of Tianjin Jingxiang Space Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. My practice focuses on the development and operation of immersive cultural tourism projects. I have created a series of well-known immersive night tour brands including Shutong Night, Tianbo Elegance, Tianhou Blessing Night and Centennial Theater.

These landmark projects have obtained front-page coverage by People’s Daily and received wide recognition and continuous reports from mainstream media such as CCTV News, Xinhua News Agency, Chinanews, and China Youth Daily.

Up to now, I have established stable and in-depth cooperation with governments and state-owned enterprises in Tianjin, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang and other provinces, continuously promoting business innovation and quality upgrading in the cultural tourism industry.

Eijiro “Eddie” Yamakita is Chairperson and Representative Director of JTB Corp., a globally leading travel and tourism company with more than a century of heritage.

The JTB Group traces its roots back to 1912 when “Japan Tourist Bureau” was formed to attract international travelers to Japan and assist with their travel needs. While our activities and clientele have expanded greatly since then, the JTB Group remains aligned around a core purpose: bringing people, places and possibilities together.

Eddie has held key leadership positions throughout his career, with a focus on the group’s global business. Early on, he led the development of the company’s global strategy before moving to Europe, where he served as European Head of the JTB Group and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Kuoni Travel Investment Ltd.

Following his return to Japan, he served as President and CEO from 2020. In this role, he led a comprehensive strategic transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing a solid foundation for the group’s global expansion and long-term growth.

He leads global advocacy to the tourism industry through UN Tourism and the World Travel Tourism Council (WTTC) as its board member.

He is also Vice Chairperson of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), where he chairs Inbound Travel Executive Committee, contributing to the continued development of Japan as a global tourism destination and also serves as Chairperson of the Tourism Expo Japan Executive Committee, one of Japan’s leading platforms connecting the domestic, overseas and inbound travel and tourism industries.

He is dedicated to advancing sustainable tourism, strengthening cross sectors' collaboration, and nurturing the next generation of tourism leaders through engagement with leading universities in Japan.