Hulya Akdemir Cengiz, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Safranbolu Faculty of Tourism, Karabük University, Turkey. She completed her bachelors degree at Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey, and gained industry experience in sales and marketing roles at various companies in Turkey and USA. She completed her masters degree in business administration at Karabuk University, Turkey, followed by a PhD at the same university. Her research interests focus on tourism marketing, digital marketing, and consumer behavior. She has publications in various journals, and she has presented papers at conferences across the world. She is also a member of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE). She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses such as tourism management, tourism marketing, service marketing, customer relationship management, sales management, and research methods and ethics. In 2022, the researcher was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by TUBITAK, a national research funding agency in Turkey. She spent a year in the United States working on a project focused on “The Effects of Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies on Hotel Customers Memorable Tourism Experiences.”Seza Zerman, PhD, works as an Assistant Professor at the Safranbolu College of Tourism, Karabuk University, Turkey. After graduating from the College of Political Sciences, Ankara University, in Turkey, she studied for her masters at the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, in Hospitality and Tourism Management, and for her PhD at Oklahoma State University, USA, in Hospitality Administration. She teaches hospitality marketing, sustainable tourism, contemporary hospitality issues, and storytelling in tourism both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has several publications on sustainable tourism, local food and street food marketing, social media marketing, and storytelling in hospitality. Her research project, “Storytelling in Tourism: The Impacts of Story Items and Mental Simulation on Storytelling Intention,” has recently been approved by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey as a nine-month project to be conducted in the United States of America in 2025. She is a member of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) and has presented several papers at ICHRIE, EuroCHRIE, and APacCHRIE conferences across the world.Aysegul Acar, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation Management of the Safranbolu Faculty of Tourism at Karabük University, Turkey. Dr. Acars research interests are in finance, management and organization, marketing in the tourism industry, and alternative tourism types. She has authored or co-authored over 15 international refereed journal articles, international conference papers and presentations, and book chapters. She has taught financial management, sustainable tourism, tourism marketing, and introduction to hospitality and tourism courses at Karabük University. She received her doctoral degree from Istanbul University. Her dissertation focus was on corporate social responsibility, brand equity, and the financial performance of hospitality and tourism establishments. She also holds a Master of Science degree in hospitality management from Istanbul University and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in tourism management from Bo?aziçi University, Turkey. Her research project, “Integration of Bloomberg Termina as an Experimental Learning Tool into Tourism and Hospitality Education,” was approved by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey as a 12-month project to be conducted in the United States of America in 2023. She is a member of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE). She completed a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at Northern Arizona University, followed by another one-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of South Florida.Faizan Ali, PhD, is a Professor at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics at the University of Galway, Ireland, and a renowned expert in contemporary research methodologies related to consumer behavior and human-computer interaction in the hospitality and tourism industry. A scholar, teacher, and mentor, Dr. Ali was ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide and was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2022 and 2023 by Clarivate Analytics. He has published over 130 research papers and book chapters, presented at more than 75 conferences, and has received nearly 17,000 citations. Dr. Ali also serves as an editor and editorial board member for several leading hospitality and tourism journals.
