Steve Smith [1], who joined the School of Hospitality, Food, and Tourism Management in 2013, has a particular interest in research design and applications, both empirical and subjective methods.  His research methods text, Practical Tourism Research (CABI, 2010), has been well-received by students and reviewers alike and he has just signed a contract with the publisher to produce an updated edition. The text covers a wide range of topics, from the nature of hospitality and tourism research logic to specialized techniques such as the development of metrics for management decision-making and case studies.  The new edition will include sections on research ethics as well as some new specialized methods such as netnography.

Steve’s work is not limited just to publishing.  He recently was part of a project that estimated the economic and health benefits of hiking trails in Ontario for the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport.  He estimates that in 2014, Ontario hikers spent nearly $960 million on day hikes and another $690 million on overnight hiking trips, yielding $559 million to provincial GDP and $806 million in labour income. 

He also helped design a new tourism research strategy for the province of Prince Edward Island, laying out a new framework for co-operation among government, industry, and not-for-profit organizations such as festivals. The work not only provides a vision for how research responsibilities can be shared among these three sectors, but also an overall strategy for improving the tourism statistics collected and used by this island province whose economy depends on heavily on a robust tourism sector.

Steve values working in a School and University with strong industry and government ties that also promotes excellence in education and scholarship.