May 21, 2025
📍 Galway, Ireland | June 24-26, 2025
The Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 TTRA Awards, honoring the brightest minds and most impactful contributions in global tourism research. These awards reflect TTRA’s core values—thought leadership, innovation, and community—while celebrating those who have elevated the industry through their work.
Research & Practitioner Awards
🏅 Boeing Travel Research Grant
Recipient: Ronja Gaulinger, Europa-Universität Flensburg (with the German Institute for Tourism Research)
Project: “Building Destination Resilience through Stakeholder Collaboration”
Ronja’s innovative use of social network analysis to advance coastal destination management earned praise for methodological strength and real-world relevance.
🏅 J. Desmond Slattery Graduate Student Research Award
Recipient: Seung-Jin Cho, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Project: “The Predictably Irrational Tourist”
Blending behavioral economics and text mining, Seung-Jin’s project rethinks tourist decision-making in novel and insightful ways.
🏅 MMGY Shifflet Award for Research Excellence
Recipient: Nancy Small & Tourism Richmond
The team at Tourism Richmond leveraged data-driven segmentation to boost audience engagement by 15% and reduce cost-per-impression by 14%—a standout case of applied research with direct ROI.
Conference-Selected Awards
🏅 Charles R. Goeldner Journal of Travel Research Article of Excellence Award
Recipients: Graham Miller, Gloria Crabolu, and Xavier Font
Awarded for the most impactful article published in the Journal of Travel Research in the past year.
🏅 Best Oral Presentation Award – Sponsored by Lighthouse
Winner to be announced live at the Galway Conference.
🏅 Best Qualitative Research Methods Paper – Sponsored by Virginia Tech
Winner to be selected at the conference.
🏅 Best Visual Presentation Award – Sponsored by Texas A&M
Winner to be chosen during the Ideas Fair at the conference.
Legacy Awards
🏅 Distinguished Researcher Award
Recipient: Dr. Rachel Dodds, Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Dodds is a recognized leader in sustainable tourism, known for her prolific scholarship, her work in bridging research and policy, and her deep commitment to mentoring the next generation of researchers.
🏅 Lifetime Achievement Award
Recipient: Brian Ruf, Founder of Ruf Strategic Solutions
Over the course of his distinguished career, Brian has been a champion of data integrity, innovation in tourism analytics, and the practical application of research to real-world decisions. His leadership has left a lasting mark on both the industry and this organization.