College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2020 91 2020, a year of the extraordinary! Prof Diane Abrahams Director School of Tourism and Hospitality overview 2020 will be remembered as the year of the extraordinary! The year that changed the global Tourism and Hospitality landscape because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have learnt numerous lessons along the way and the pandemic has affected all of us in ways unimaginable. As a leading School of Tourism and Hospitality (STH), we are actively part of the innovations that are unfolding in the sector and are already plugging into the changes, as the sector resets itself. Among the STH’s most notable highlights for 2020 are the thought leadership sessions that we hosted wherein we featured some of the tourism sector’s foremost advocates, professionals, researchers, and leaders. The aim of the #sThinConversation webinar series was not to provide all the answers but rather to spark ideas and provide a platform for important discussions that would connect various stakeholders through conversation. ToP ranKed sChool of Tourism and hosPiTaliTY in afriCa Research in Tourism and Hospitality remains a key strength for the STH. This year we generated 82.39 in research output units. The STH is host to three Distinguished Visiting Professors: Prof Jarkko Saarinen (University of Oulu, Finland), Prof Thomas Baum (University of Strathclyde, Scotland) and Prof Robin Nunkoo (University of Mauritius). They, alongside our expanded network of research associates, have all played an active role in international projects, research and postgraduate supervision. The STH now boasts a network of 51 senior research associates from 45 universities. The STH remains the number one ranked School in Africa (for Tourism and Leisure Studies, QS Rankings, 2020). In the Shanghai Global Rankings for 2020, the STH achieved position 20.
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