John Koldowski

John Koldowski is currently a Professor within the School of Tourism at Leshan Normal University, Sichuan Province, China, where he continues in his role as a researcher and educator – the latter to pass on his knowledge and experience in order to prepare the next generation of tourism specialists to enter the workforce with a deep and practical understanding of the dynamics and systems of today’s travel sector.

Prior to that appointment, John was with the College of Innovation at Thailand’s Thammasat University, and a founding member of the Tourism Action Group (TAG) at the same institution.  He was also part of the Secretariat for the PATA Thailand Chapter for a number of years, while living and working in Thailand. Before entering academia, Mr. Koldowski was Deputy CEO of PATA where over a fifteen-year span he came to be regarded as one of the travel and tourism sector’s leading analysts. He still maintains his relationship with PATA through his appointment as a special advisor to the CEO.

John specialises in the capture, analysis and interpretation of information concerning shifts, movements and trends in the travel and tourism industry, particularly those affecting the Asia Pacific region. This includes monitoring statistics on travel movements, tracking policy and legal developments, identifying changes in consumer preferences and destination developments with respect to branding and positioning. He has a number of other research interests, including the responsible and sustainable development of mountain and mountain area tourism, rural tourism and the creation of metrics for a better measurement of the impact of tourism in fragile areas and on the intangible assets of tourism.

Mr. Koldowski is a graduate of the Flinders University of South Australia, as well as the University of Central Queensland and is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree.