Dr Vincent Tung received his PhD in Management from the University of Calgary in Canada. He specializes in tourism management research, focusing on resident attitudes as well as tourist/consumer and industry perspectives that are crucial for the success of a destination. Dr Tung also has supplementary interests, including the state of progress, careers, and publishing in tourism academia, and education-related research. 

He is a leading scholar with outstanding research achievements in the field of ‘Sport, Leisure and Tourism’. With reference to international benchmarks, he has been ranked amongst the World’s Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists, as released by Stanford University, for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023. His lead-authored, seminal paper on tourists’ memorable experiences is amongst the top 40 most highly cited articles (out of 119,000) across the entire Clarivate Web of Science Core Collection for the subject category, ‘Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, and Tourism.’ In 2024, he was named a Top Scholar by ScholarGPS under the specialty, ‘Tourism’, and received a Best Paper Award as lead author at the ICHRIE Global Conference in Montreal, Canada. In 2022, he was recognized as an Emerging Scholar of Distinction by the International Academy for the Study of Tourism in Leuven, Belgium.

Dr Tung’s research on residents’ attitudes have been well received by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (RGC). In 2019 and 2023, he completed projects funded by the RGC on tourist stereotypes and discrimination, respectively. In 2021/22, Dr Tung became the first and only faculty member at SHTM to be shortlisted as a Finalist for the selection interview by RGC for the Research Fellow Scheme across Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business Studies. In 2023/24 and 2024/25, he was shortlisted to represent PolyU for the RGC Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme.

As a teacher, Dr Tung seeks to nurture students who can become leaders in the field of tourism. He holds himself to high standards by providing a challenging yet fair experience and by treating students with respect and patience. He has taught a variety of undergraduate (e.g., China Tourism, Destination Management, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Hospitality) as well as postgraduate subjects (e.g., Research Methods, Tourism Development in Asia, and Theories and Concepts in Tourism). He has served as the chief supervisor for doctoral students from various countries, such as China, Cyprus, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. In 2020, his student received the School’s Best PhD Thesis Award. In 2023, he nominated and successfully recruited a PhD student through the PolyU Presidential PhD Fellowship Scheme. Through his supervision, students developed a genuine interest in research and published their work in top tier tourism journals.

Finally, Dr Tung actively provides professional and community service to PolyU and the wider local and international tourism academic communities. He serves on the PolyU Institutional Review Board, and is the Subject Area Coordinator for the Tourism Management program at SHTM.  Locally, he has been invited as a speaker for the Travel Industry Authority (TIA) of Hong Kong, and is member of the Training Committee at the Travel Industry Council (TIC) of Hong Kong. He has served as external examiner for program validations for local post-secondary institutions, such as the Lingnan Institute of Further Education, and is a member on the Education Bureau’s committee for Tourism and Hospitality Studies at the secondary-school level. Internationally, he is an associate editor for Annals of Tourism Research, and serves on the editorial boards of Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, and other leading tourism journals.

Resident attitudes

Tourist/consumer perspectives

Industry perspectives

Entrepreneurship and innovation

Theories and concepts in tourism

Destination marketing and management