THE convening of an international conference on tourism and hospitality in Luxor City late last week is a commendable development in the state drive to revive the country's full tourism industry potentials. Organised as it was by Fayyoum University's Faculty of Tourism in co-operation with UK's Durham University and US South Carolina University, the Luxor conference signaled a pioneering move to bring the academia closest to the public interest, in effect establishing a dynamic link between academic activities and the needs of the society. Such a link is all the more necessary for tourism as an economic sector that has served as a major asset for the country's foreign currency revenues as well as for the creation of an increasing number of job opportunities. And for this conference to convene in the capital of Upper Egypt's governorate of Luxor, the land of some of the world's most treasured monuments, is indeed an indication of the keenness of its organisers on invoking the spirit of the place directly into the debates and discussions of academics, administrators and executives. The presence of Luxor Governor Dr Mohammed Badr in the conference also reflected the interest of the provincial administration in exploring fresh ideas to promote the governorate's world-brand touristic potentials. And it was apparently in this context that Luxor governor alluded in a statement to the inaugural session that the conference would help enhance the governorate's competitiveness on the world tourism map in addition to contribution to the upgrading of the country's tourism industry. Of equal importance was the participation of Fayyoum University Chancellor Dr Khaled Hamza who noted in a statement to the conference that the Fayyoum University's Faculty of Tourism has commendably established a tradition of convening its specialised conferences in the top touristic destinations. Furthermore, a review of the research paper topics that the scholars and experts debated in plenary and thematic sessions reveals both the conference's intellectual richness and the large extent of the contribution that the academic community can make to the advancement of the country's tourism industry. Foremost among the topics that reflected those two distinguishing characteristics of the Luxor conference were the drafting of innovative strategies for the promotion of tourism activities, the modalities of decision-making in the tourism industry, the role of IT support, scientific methodologies in the study of the tourism and hospitality industry and the latest trends in this industry. The choice of these topics in particular constitutes a good case of integrating the academic activities with the requirements of socio-economic development.
