Each year, IFITT proudly awards innovative technology-savvy organizations, working in the eTourism field, as well as outstanding research contributions. This year IFITT Awards were presented to the winners during ENTER2020 (https://enter2020.ifitt.org/) eTourism conference in Guildford, UK.

IFITT Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award

• The Hannes Werthner Tourism and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual from academia, industry or government, who has made significant contributions to the advancement of the field/practice of tourism and technology.
• The winner of 2020 award is Professor Miriam Scaglione from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland.

ENTER Conference Best Paper Award 2020

• 1^stPlace – David Massimo and Francesco Ricci: “Next-POI Recommendations for the Smart Destination Era”.
• 2^ndPlace – Jasmin Hopf, Melina Scholl, Barbara Neuhofer, and Roman Egger: “Exploring the Impact of Multisensory VR on Travel Recommendation: A Presence Perspective”.
• 3^rdPlace – Francisco Femenia-Serra and Ulrike Gretzel: “Influencer Marketing for Tourism Destinations: Lessons from a Mature Destination”.

ENTER Conference Best Research Note Award 2020

• 1^stPlace – Wen Zhang, Jeongmi Kim, Hany Kim and Daniel Fesenmaier: “The Tourism Story Project: Developing the Behavioral Foundations for an AI Supporting Destination Story Design”.
• 2^ndPlace – Seunghun Shin and Zheng Xiang: “Social Media-Induced Tourism: A Conceptual Framework”.
• 3^rdPlace – Iis Tussyadiah and Graham Miller: “Imagining the Future of Travel: Technology and Sustainability Transitions”.

ENTER Conference Best PhD Proposal Award 2020

• 1^stPlace – Abbie-Gayle Johnson: “Relational Factors that Influence Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in Inter-organisational Collaboration: An Examination of Tourism Supplier Engagement in Smart Tourism”.
• 2^ndPlace – Yi Xuang Ong: “Social Media Influencers for Destination Marketing – Application of the Self-Congruity Theory on Generational and Cross-Cultural Comparison”.
• 3^rdPlace – Emmy Y M Yeung: “Authenticity and Augmented Reality in Heritage Sites”.

IFITT Thesis Excellence Award

• The Thesis Excellence Award awards students who successfully defended their theses in the field of tourism and technology between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019.
• Master thesis:Saadi Myftija (Technical University of Munich, Germany). “Data-Driven Destination Characterization in a Conversational Recommender System”.

IFITT ICT4D Scholarship

• Le Thi Phuong Anh, Taylor’s University (Malaysia), “Factors influencing the successful national Destination Management System implementation in Vietnam”.

Best IFITTtalk of the Year

• IFITTtalk@Nairobi (Kenya) – workshop on 7-8th November 2019, organized by Mary Mutungi Mutisya, Esther Kagure Munyiri, Rayviscic Mutinda, Methuselah Bichage Gesage, Nyabisi Mengo.

IFITT 2020 Journal Paper of the Year Award

• Bulchand-Gidumal, J., & Melián-González, S. (2019). Why are ratings so high in the sharing economy? Evidence based on guest perspectives. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-13.

2020 JITT Article of the Year sponsored by IFITT

• Mellinas, J. P., & Martin-Fuentes, E. (2019). Does hotel size matter to get more reviews per room? Information Technology & Tourism, 21(2), 165-180.

2020 eTourism Industry Contribution Award

• Robert Govers, Chairman of International Place Branding Association

Congratulations, well done and thank you for your contribution!

IFITT would like to thank Director of Research Excellence Estela Mariné-Roig for overseeing the award identification processes. Last but not least, our sincere gratitude goes to the awards committee and, in particular, to Julia Neidhardt, Wolfgang Wöndl (research track), Tussyadiah and Zheng Xiang (IFITT awards), Jason Stienmetz and Berta Ferrer Rosell (the PhD workshop award) for organising and supporting the process.