Dr. Brian EM King, PhD

Brian EM King PhD is Professor and Head of the Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism at Texas A&M University, USA, a position that he has held since 2022. He is the founding (1998) and current editor in chief of Tourism, Culture and Communication (TCC), the first international scholarly journal to focus on tourism and culture. His research adopts a cultural lens to understand tourism markets and visitor economies. Having held academic positions in Europe, Australia, the South Pacific, Asia and most recently North America he has sought to make higher education in tourism and hospitality responsive to both industry and community needs. His recent teaching has focused on the visitor economy, cultural tourism and hospitality leadership.

For his research, teaching and executive programs, he draws upon his professional background with airlines, tour operations, destination management organizations, cruise and resorts. In addition to his journal editor role, he has held various University leadership roles – Head of School, Associate Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor. He has led change processes in different institutions including University-wide (in Australia) and at department level (in the USA, transitioning a department of recreation, park and tourism science to a new focus on hospitality, hotel management and tourism). He appreciates the strong support from Cognizant as he and co-editor Dr Wantanee Suntikul have built the reputation of TCC to strengthen interdisciplinary research that brings a unique focus on the intersection of tourism, culture and communication.