Kristin Lamoureux: hospitality and tourism management

Kristin Lamoureux: Leading tourism development around the world

For most travelers, tourism is about spending time enjoying their favorite destinations. Yet, in developing countries, tourism is opening the doors to abundant opportunities, providing jobs, livelihoods, and sustainable futures for millions of people. In recent years, tourism has been a major engine for economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. It is estimated that tourism accounts for 1 in 10 jobs worldwide and delivers 1 in 5 of all new jobs created in 2017.

Speaking at the 2019 United Nations World Tourism Organization Global Conference in Buenos Aires, the former president of Costa Rica said, “Tourism equates to 27% of Costa Rica’s GDP. Eighty percent of that benefits the lowest quintile, and 60% of the jobs are for women.”

Dr. Kristin Lamoureux, Visiting Professor of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Virginia Tech, is helping to shape a new generation of hospitality professionals that is dedicated not only to excellence in hospitality and tourism, but also to improving the lives of the people impacted by tourism. With a career spanning more than 20 years, she has gained renown as an expert in tourism workforce education, international development and sustainable destination management.

In 2017, she began working with CIRED to provide technical assistance in analyzing vocational training needs in Morocco’s tourism industry for a future project funded by the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that is expected to begin in June 2019.

She points out that tourism is only part of the equation. “The goal is never just tourism. In fact, tourism is very much a tool for achieving a number of goals such as poverty alleviation, gender equality and economic growth.”

The United Nations proclaimed 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism, recognizing “the important role of sustainable tourism as a positive instrument for the eradication of poverty, the protection of the environment, the improvement of the quality of life and the economic empowerment of women and youth and its contribution ... to sustainable development, particularly in developing countries.”

Lamoureux noted that, “For many years, the hospitality and tourism industry has focused simply on growth. Now that destinations are facing overtourism with negative impacts on the environment and the communities, the question has changed to how can tourism be a force for good? How can it improve the quality of life of the host communities?”

“Quite often, tourism dollars do not stay with the host destination. Following the principles of sustainable tourism, we focus on improving the quality of life for residents, economic returns, protecting the environment, and developing the tourism industry in a way that doesn’t have negative impacts on local populations.” 

During her career, Lamoureux provided her tourism and hospitality expertise in developed and developing destinations such as Virginia, Washington, DC, New York, Montana, and Oklahoma, as well as countries such as Jordan, Morocco, Honduras, Belize, Egypt, Mali, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Myanmar, Mexico, Portugal, Namibia, and Spain. “Tourism is often labeled as easy to do, but the reality is that in most of the world, good tourism takes careful planning, good policies and community input,” added Lamoureux.

She currently teaches Social and Cultural Impacts of Tourism, International Tourism, and Travel and Tourism Management at Virginia Tech. 

“I am in a unique position to teach and to continue to do international development work. I love engaging students in the process and helping them figure out what they’re doing,” added Lamoureux. “I like the fact that we are breaking down barriers between academe and the industry.” 

When asked about her work with CIRED, she commented, “Virginia Tech is fortunate to have a center that crosses all of the disciplines. Never before have I had the opportunity to approach a development problem with such a broad array of expertise such as agriculture, architecture, business, natural resource management and engineering the way that CIRED does it. It affords me the opportunity to grow in my field and collaborate with other experts.”

Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she served as the Associate Dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism within the School of Professional Studies at New York University and as the Executive Director of the International Institute of Tourism Studies (IITS) at George Washington University. During her time at IITS, she was elected vice-chair for the Americas of the Affiliate Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).