Ross Dowling

Biography

Professor Ross Dowling is the Foundation Professor of Tourism in the School of Business and Law. Professor Ross Dowling OAM is the Foundation Professor of Tourism in the School of Business and Law. He has held a number of other positions in Australian universities and immediately prior to joining ECU he was a Foundation Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer at The University of Notre Dame Australia. At ECU he has held many positions including Chair, Tourism Program, Head, School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Associate Head, School of Business, and Director, MBA and Cross Disciplinary Studies. Professor Dowling actively contributes to Tourism Research and Development in a number of capacities around the world, especially in the areas of Geotourism, Cruise Ship Tourism, Ecotourism and Tourism Planning & Development. He is an international speaker and advisor on tourism, providing advice for the industry in a number of countries around the world. In recent years he has established a Tourism degree for Emirates Airlines, convened a number of International Tourism and Hospitality Conferences in Malaysia, and lead an Australian team giving Tourism Industry Development Workshops for the Vietnam Government. Ross has also completed two lecture tours on Ecotourism and Geotourism for the Chinese Government throughout China, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as having developed a Sustainable Tourism Development Plan for the Ministry of Tourism in the Sultanate of Oman. In 2011 he conducted a summer school for the University of Iceland on Geotourism and Geoparks and is currently working on tourism development in both Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

Research Interest

Geotourism and geoparks development, sustainability, impacts and opportunities, Cruise Ship Tourism development, growth and industry impacts, Ecotourism planning, development, management and impacts, Regional tourism planning and development.