Talk on ‘The Global Cruise Industry and what it means to Sri Lanka’ by Prof. Ross Dowling

The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and Australian College of Business and Technology (ACBT) has invited Prof. Ross Dowling from Australia to speak on ‘The Global Cruise Industry and what it means to Sri Lanka’.

The event is on Tuesday 4 August at Hotel School Ground Floor (next to Tourist Board Building – Opposite Cinnamon Grand) from 4 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Due to limited space number of participants has been limited to 30 on first come first served basis. Those who are interested can register with us by mailing to [email protected], telephone 0714880571.

Prof. Ross Dowling is Foundation Professor of Tourism and Associate Head of the School of Business, Faculty of Business and Law. Internationally he is an Advisor, UNESCO Global Network of National Geoparks (France); Advisor, Asia Pacific Geoparks Network; Executive Board Member of the Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation (Oman), and Co-founder, International Cruise Research Society (Germany).

He is also the founder of the Global Geotourism Conferences which have been held in Australia (2008), Malaysia (2010) and Oman (2011). In Australia he is Co-founder and Executive Director of Ecotourism Australia; Deputy Chair, Australia National Geoparks Committee, and Advisor to the industry group, Cruise Down Under.

In Western Australia he is Chair of State’s Cruise WA Committee, Chair of the Great South West Edge National Landscape, a Council Member of the Royal Automobile Club, and Member of Australia’s Coral Coast Tourism Marketing Board. He been appointed as a Member of the Conservation Commission by the Minister for the Environment.

Professor Dowling conducts international research in the fields of cruise ship tourism, geotourism and ecotourism with over 200 publications. In recent years he has co-authored or co-edited ten books on tourism.

They are Ecotourism, Tourism in Destination Communities, Natural Area Tourism, Ecotourism Policy and Planning, Wildlife Tourism, Geotourism, Cruise Ship Tourism, Coastal Tourism Development, Geotourism: The Tourism of Geology and Landscape and Global Geotourism Perspectives. Two have been translated into Chinese, one into Persian and others published in India.

He is a consultant on tourism providing advice for the industry in a number of countries around the world. In recent years he has established a Tourism degree for Emirates Airlines, United Arab Emirates; convened a number of International Tourism and Hospitality Conferences in Malaysia; lead an Australian team giving Tourism Industry Development Workshops for the Vietnam Government; completed an extensive lecture tour for the Chinese Government, throughout China, Hong Kong and Macau; and advised on Tourism Development for the Sultanate of Oman.

He has been awarded an NZ Conservation Foundation Citation and a Perth Tourism and Aviation Scholarship. On Australia Day 2011 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his contributions to the tourism and hospitality industry, education and ecotourism development.