Jigang Bao

Professor and Founding Dean

Sun Yat-sen University

eesbjg@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Biography

Dr. Bao Jigang is a nationally recognized high-level talent and a professor at the School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). He is the founding dean of School of Tourism Management (2004-2018) at Sun Yat-sen University. He currently works as the Deputy Dean of Economics and Management Division of SYSU, Director of Tourism Development and Planning Research Center at SYSU, President of the Education Branch of China Tourism Association, Director of the Monitoring Center for UN Tourism Sustainable Tourism Observatories (MCSTO), and Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST).

Bao has led totally eight Major, Key, and General Programs or Young Scholars Programs of National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Social Science Fund of China. Professor Bao has published more than 300 publications in refereed journals (Chinese and English). He has also supervised more than 70Ph.D students; many of them are now leaders in the tourism field in China.He has previously overseen the provincial development plans for the tourism industries in Guangdong Province, Hubei Province, and Hunan Province, as well as municipal development plans for tourism in cities such as Guilin, Suzhou, Huangshan, Zhangjiajie, Xishuangbanna, and Zhuhai. He has also directed the planning for tourist scenic areas such as Kanas in Xinjiang and Greater Shangri-La Region. He initiated and led the “Azheke Plan”, recognized as a successful case of tourism-driven poverty alleviation in China. Moreover, leveraging the endorsement of UN Tourism, Bao has established nine UN Tourism Sustainable Tourism Observatories in China, which has been providing intellectual support for local sustainable tourism development efforts, enabling the international society to gain a deeper understanding of authentic China through tourism and rural experiences.

He has received nearly 50 awards and honors, including the 16th UN Tourism Ulysses Prize and Award (the first recipient from China), the National-level Teaching Master, the National “May·First” Labor Medal, the Guangdong Province “May·First” Labor Medal, the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Construction of Geographical Society of China (GSC), the title of “Prominent Contributor to Tourism Education” on the inaugural “Tourism Education Personalities List”, recognition as one of the “Awesome Scholars in Tourism” (the only Chinese scholar), and the Outstanding Teacher Award from Zhuhai.