The fourth session of the 2025 Things Graduate Students MUST Know organized by the Students’ Union of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), was held on December 17, 2025, at O404. The guest speaker for this session was Ph.D. Yiyang Sun, Assistant Professor of College of Sustainability and Tourism Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and Ph.D. Chulmo Koo, Professor of Smart Tourism Education Platform College of Hotel and Tourism Management Kyung Hee University. They delivered a lecture titled “Frontier Research in the Field of Tourism”. Attendees included Professor Jose Wong, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at MUST; Associate Professor Pai Chen Kuo; Assistant Professor Kim Jinkyung; Assistant Professor Lee Soyeun; Assistant Professor Amr Al-Ansi; and over 50 students from the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management and other faculties.
Souvenir Presented
Assistant Dean Jose Wong delivered the opening speech, extending gratitude to Professor Yiyang Sun and Professor Chulmo Koo for their contributions to the lecture and acknowledging Associate Professor Pai Chen Kuo for his contributions to organizing the event. Assistant Dean Wong also presented a commemorative gift to Professor Yiyang Sun and Professor Chulmo Koo.
During the lecture, leveraging her profound academic expertise and extensive publication experience, Professor Yiyang Sun shared insights into the drawbacks of advanced technology in the hospitality and tourism industry. She systematically analyzed the complex impacts and potential risks associated with the application of advanced technologies in this sector. Based on a review of 96 publications from the past five years, her team developed a conceptual model for categorizing technological risks using complexity theory. She noted that while current research predominantly relies on quantitative methods and focuses on the consumer perspective, future studies should adopt mixed-methods approaches that integrate both supply and demand perspectives to more comprehensively address the multidimensional challenges posed by technological advancements.
Professor Yiyang Sun delivered a speech
Professor Chulmo Koo further proposed the evolving framework of “Smart Tourism 2.0”. He emphasized that the new era of smart tourism centers on artificial intelligence as its core technology, deeply integrating platforms such as applications, cloud computing, and the metaverse/AR/VR. Its essence lies in transitioning from mere digital presence to constructing a complex human-machine collaborative ecosystem. Professor Chulmo Koo specifically highlighted that the key lies in integrating supplier and user perspectives, providing innovative solutions based on contextual raw data and social connectivity data, and achieving intelligent upgrades in itinerary planning through the fusion of traditional systems and AI applications.
Professor Chulmo Koo delivered a speech
Group Photo
The event concluded with a group photo of all participating faculty and students, marking a successful end to the lecture.
