Liping Cai
Dr. Liping Cai is a professor specializing in tourism, and Director of Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center. He is a member of Indiana Governor's Tourism Council, and serves on the Board of International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators. Cai also serves as Travel and Tourism Industry Expert to the World Economic Forum. He received Purdue University's designation of University Faculty Scholar in 2003. He also holds several honorary faculty appointments at the School of Hospitality Business of Michigan State University and four universities in China.
Cai is the author and co-author of more than 100 refereed papers published in scholarly journals and proceedings of international conferences. His consulting and research expertise includes destination and hotel branding, rural tourism development and marketing, and behavioral and psychographic profiles of leisure travelers. In the last 12 years, he has conducted over 30 visitor profile and marketing studies for tourism agencies and hospitality businesses. These studies range from market analysis and segmentation to image building and advertising effectiveness. Dr. Cai serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, Tourism Management, Journal of Vacation Marketing, China Tourism Research, and on Research Papers Committee of the International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators. He is also a reviewer for several other journals including Annals of Tourism Research and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. He holds several honorary faculty appointments at the School of Hospitality Business of Michigan State University, and four universities in China.
Native of Jiangsu, China, Dr. Cai was the first graduate of China's first tourism program - Nanjing Tourism School, which was founded in 1978. He received his MBA from Michigan State University and PhD. from Purdue University.