Cornell Research Center Opens New Forum for Industry Experts
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Cornell Research Center Opens New Forum for Industry Experts
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Category: Worldwide - Industry economy -
Trends / Expert's advice
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2009-01-30
The first edition of “Ask the Board” is available from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research. “Ask the Board” is a web-based service that focuses on key issues affecting the hospitality industry, found at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/asktheboard.html. Conveniently organized in a question-and-answer format, “Ask the Board” shares the expertise of members of the center's advisory board and of Cornell researchers. To focus the discussion on the industry's most essential issues, the questions are selected by a steering committee.
“We created 'Ask the Board' as a way of making our board members' knowledge more accessible,” said David Sherwyn, academic director of the Center for Hospitality Research. “The question-and-answer format allows us to deliver the greatest possible information in the most direct way. Plus, by selecting the questions, we make sure that we're on top of the industry's key issues.”
The “Ask the Board” forum starts the year with a question that many are asking: What is your perspective on the outlook for 2009? Eight industry executives and researchers offer a lively and diverse set of responses. For example, Michael Egan, chairman and founder of job.travel, expects a return to economic growth in 2009, due to the liquidity created by the Federal Reserve. In contrast, Richard Rizzo, director of consumer research for General Growth Properties, cautions that consumer reticence will delay recovery for most or all of this year. Looking directly at the hospitality industry, Adam Weissenberg, U.S. tourism, hospitality, and leisure leader for Deloitte & Touche, believes both business and leisure travel will continue to struggle, with little prospect for a recovery before the fourth quarter. Mark Lomanno, president of STR Global, concurs by pointing out that his firm expects both declining demand and falling room rates. The glimmer of hope in that picture, Lomanno added, is that room supply growth is slowing, also due to economic concerns.
Other “Ask the Board” participants point to the opportunity that lies in the current economic situation. Those include Gerald Lawless, executive chairman of Jumeirah Group, and Charles Chang, assistant professor at the School of Hotel Administration. Summarizing the discussion, Sherwyn said, “I believe we'll be in for a wild ride.”
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