Dr.Cevat Tosun

Dr. Cevat Tosun is the Eisenhower Chair and Professor of Tourism Studies and Management and the director of the MS in Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management program at the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB MSTHEM). In this role, he oversaw the 50th Anniversary celebration of the GWSB MSTHEM program, held on October 29, 2024.

While Dr. Tosun is an award-winning researcher and teacher, he is also a well-experienced consultant and speaker in international tourism management. In 2021, 2022, and 2024, he was awarded the "Outstanding Master of Tourism Administration Faculty Award," which was voted on entirely by students. He obtained a very competitive Leverhulme Trust Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. His projects were funded by Plan Blue/UNEP, the European Union, the Turkish Higher Education Board, and the Scientific and Technological Council of Türkiye. His publications have over 12,000 citations as per the Google Scholar Citation Index, and he has been listed in the top 2 percent of most-cited scientists in the world by Stanford University's Meta-Research Innovation Center and Elsevier since 2019. Moreover, he was recognized as "the most cited author" with a total of 983 citations for his four papers, making him the most influential reference author in the area of research on meaningful community participation for effective development of sustainable tourism.

He has worked as a full professor at five universities for 20 years and served as a senior business development consultant in the private sector for various international companies and organizations in the UK, France, Austria, Northern Ireland, and Turkey. In particular, he contributed to the development of more than fifteen technical assistance project proposals with a multi-million Euro budget funded by the European Union (EU) and Plan Blue/UNEP-MAP, in addition to numerous grant scheme projects funded by the EU. He was also one of the key experts, consultants, or coordinators in the implementation process of some of these projects.

Dr. Tosun completed his undergraduate studies at the top of his class. During his primary and university education, he gained a great deal of industry experience by working in the tourism and hospitality sector in various roles (e.g., restaurant manager, reception clerk, hotel manager, waiter, and bellboy). He received his Ph.D. degree in international tourism management and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree in tourism planning from University of Strathclyde, UK, and his MSc degree in hospitality and tourism management from Erciyes University, Turkey. Earning his graduate degrees in both international tourism management and hospitality management at two of the leading programs in his field in two different countries with different socio-cultural and educational contexts has enriched his vision and teaching philosophy.

He has 30 years of teaching experience in business management, tourism, and hospitality management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Tosun has taught courses in Research Methods, Entrepreneurship, Destination Marketing, Tourism Economics and Tourism Policy and Planning (George Washington University School of Business), Tourism Promotion (Northern Iowa University, USA), Tourism Impacts (Bournemouth University, UK), Strategic Management (Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, UAE), Tourism Product Quality Management and Macro Tourism Economic Analysis at Macau University of Science and Technology as well as numerous other tourism and hospitality courses (Bilkent and Gazi Universities, Turkey). He integrates real-world industry problems into his course assignments, such as employee relations, destination management, destination capacity development, indigenous community tourism, and developing strategies for marketing challenges of the hospitality industry. He has supervised many undergraduate and graduate students at both the Master’s and Doctoral levels and has worked with students with a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

He has been invited by the European Union Foreign Affairs General Directorate, Arizona State University (US), Strathclyde University (UK), London Metropolitan University (UK), Tsuru University (Japan), South China University of Technology, Macau University, Gümüşhane University and Erzincan Universities (Turkey) to give talks on a wide variety of topics, including sustainable tourism development, impacts of climate change on tourism, community participation in the tourism development process, and tourism impacts. Moreover, the U.S. Department of State, International Visitor Leadership Program, invited him to deliver a keynote speech and lead a discussion on the topics of “Promoting Tourism to Historic Religious Sites” on October 17, 2023, and Experiential Tourism on September 24, 2024. He also acted as a trainer for the UNWTO 8th Training Program on “Capacity Building for Sustainable Tourism Planning and Development”, from November 27 to December 4, 2019, in Macau, China.

Dr. Tosun has held several administrative positions, including the founding director of the School of Tourism Management (STHM) at MKU for more than six years, department head for more than 13 years, and graduate program director for 18 years at several universities, where he spearheaded the development of the school and departments. While he was heavily involved in line management of academic staff, curriculum design, and research development during his administrative duties, he also served as a member of the Council of Strategy Planning for three years at MKU and as tourism faculty coordinator of the Academic Evaluation and Quality Improvement Board for more than four years at Gazi University.

Dr. Tosun serves on the editorial board member for journals; as a reviewer for leading hospitality and tourism journals, and as a reviewer for national and international conferences. His work has appeared at a wide spectrum of conferences (e.g., The Western Social Science Association (WSSA) Conference, I-CHRIE Annual Conference, EuroCHRIE Congress, International Travel and Tourism: Policy, and Law and Management and Rural Tourism Management: Sustainable Options, International Conference), as well as in top-tier journals (e.g., Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Geoforum, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Tourism Economics, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Tourism Research, Current Issues in Tourism) in addition to various book chapters, international technical reports for Plan Blue/UNEP, and white papers.