What is the state of hospitality and tourism research – 2018?

The purpose of this paper is to provide a personal view of the state of hospitality and tourism research as we enter 2018. It seeks to highlight a number of systemic issues that are affecting adversely the quality of research published.

This is an auto-ethnographic approach based on the author’s nearly 30 years of working and researching in the field of hospitality and tourism.

The paper begins by talking about many of the positive things that are occurring in this field, before raising five main issues of concern: the changing nature of academic research; our own lack of critical thinking; becoming method robots; publishing and authorship pressures that hinder career development and creativity; and whether our own lack of working experience hurts the academic development of the field.

The paper provides a list of five key issues all academics must be aware of to ensure both their own career progression and the continued development of the field.