From 17th to 18th November, the Wuhan Forum of World Famous Scientists Lecturing in Hubei and the International Symposium on High-Quality Development of Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Digital Era were held at our University. The conference was jointly organized by the Provincial Department of Education and the University and hosted by the School of Tourism and Hotel Management and the School of Continuing Education. The conference adopted a mixed mode of the offline-oriented and offline-online combination. Influential experts and scholars from academia and industry in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand to share the latest academic perspectives and research achievements on the theme of High-Quality Development of Tourism and Hospitality Industry in the Digital Era .More than 100 faculty members and students from nearly 20 universities within and outside the province participated in this international symposium.

Professor Chuanhua Xu, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the University, delivered a welcome speech. Mr. Nianping Huang, Director of the Foreign Cooperation and Exchange Division of the Hubei Provincial Department of Education, and Professor Yong Ma, Deputy Director of the Teaching Committee of Tourism Management in Higher Educational Institutions of the Ministry of Education, Director of the Teaching Committee of Tourism Management in Higher Educational Institutions of Hubei Province, and President of the Tourism Society of Hubei Province, made opening remarks.

Alastair A. Morrison, a tenured professor at Purdue University, USA, and professor at the University of Greenwich, UK, systematically elaborated the spectrum of tourism quality in the digital age. Professor Jay Kandampully, a professor of service management and hotel management at Ohio State University in the United States; Professor Liang Yu from the School of Business Administration at George Washington University in the United States; Professor Junyi Li, Dean of the School of Geography and Tourism at Shaanxi Normal University, and Associate Professor Maria Gebbels, responsible for the Hotel and Tourism Academic Program at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom, delivered keynote speeches on topics such as innovation in tourism services, digital development in the hotel industry, and the integration of cultural tourism through digital empowerment.

Professor Lingyun Zhang from Beijing International Studies University, Associate Professor Daniel Knox from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, Associate Professor Jashim Khan from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, Vice General Manager Fei Chen from Hubei Digital Cultural Tourism Group, and Associate Professor Richard Dunham from Yangzhou University delivered reports. They discussed the new dynamics and scenarios of smart tourism, immersive tourism experiences in the digital era,  tourism destination branding in the digital age, the construction of a digital cultural tourism system, and the development opportunities for the new BRICS member countries.