Overview

Jose Melenez is Lecturer in Sustainable Tourism and Programme Director of the MSc Sustainable Business Management (Penryn). He is a social scientist focused on how organizations can engage in collective actions to embed innovation in their sustainability policies and practices. Jose has over 13 years of professional experience working in both public and private sector sustainable tourism projects and organizations in over seven countries. He has served as Academic Coordinator and Lecturer of the Tourism Administration Program at the Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Peru. He was a Research Assistant of The International Institute of Tourism Studies of The George Washington University, USA on landmark projects such as the SAVE Tourism Alliance (Scientific, Academic, Volunteer and Educational), and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Tourism Sector Framework. He also worked for the UNWTO developing research and talent development initiatives. Jose has provided consultancy services for World Bank, USAID, UNWTO, AECID, European Commission amongst others, developing destination assessments and strategies for sustainable development through tourism. Prior to joining the University of Exeter Business School, Jose concluded his PhD in Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey.

A native of Peru, Jose acted as International Cooperation in Tourism Coordinator for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism in Peru (2015-2016). In his capacity, he served as focal point for the UNWTO, OAS, Pacific Alliance, APEC, and WEF; and led the development of the XXIII Congress of Ministers and High-Level Authorities in Tourism of the OAS, the 9th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting, the first UNWTO Prototype on Food Tourism, among other multilateral initiatives.

Qualifications

• PhD in Hospitality and Tourism Mangement, University of Surrey, UK
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching, University of Surrey, UK
• Master of Tourism Administration, George Washington University, USA
• Bachelor in Tourism Administration & Licenciado en Administración en Turismo, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Perú
• A.A.S.  Hotel and Restaurant Management & A.A.S. Business Administration, Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), USA

Links

• LinkedIn profile

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Research

Research interests

Jose’s research focuses on tourism, public policy and participatory methods. He is particularly interested in developing and implementing participatory action research projects to enhance the impact of academic research.

Research projects:

Co-creation of sustainability-oriented innovations in Tourism Destinations

This study aims to critically understand the innovation process of sustainability-oriented innovations (SOIs) in Barcelona. The study explores key institutional factors influence the development and implementation of SOI’s from the destination’s stakeholder perspective. The research also looks into how destination stakeholders participate in collective actions and generate their own structures to achieve SOIs. The study implements action-based participatory methods to facilitate the understanding of the SOI innovation process retrospectively and jointly co-create with the destination stakeholders new potential SOIs. A policy briefing of the main results can be found here: https://doi.org/10.15126/900361

Measuring Tourism Sustainability in Destinations

Along with a team of researchers in Surrey analysed sustainable tourism monitoring schemes in the EU to develop a pre-feasibility of an EU initiative to facilitate the measurement of the sustainability performance of EU destinations. The study evaluated the current use of STMS to inform policy in destinations, identified benefits and barriers experienced by users, assessed opportunities for mainstreaming STMS, and designed policy options to encourage and support STMS for destinations. The report followed a bottom-up approach through a series of interviews and participatory workshops as well as documental review. This Impulse Paper was developed for the European Commission to inform their actions in sustainable tourism.

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Publications

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Teaching

As a lecturer Jose has taught several courses at the bachelor and masters levels for hospitality and tourism management programmes in the USA, Peru and the UK. He has also worked developing and teaching executive level programmes for tourism professionals keen to engage in tourism projects that promote sustainable development. His teaching focuses in using participatory methods, playful learning and experiential learning. Over the years he has developed experiential learning modules that provide students the opportunity to test academic and professional skills in real-life projects while giving back to local industry partners and communities. List of modules:

• Sustainable Tourism Management
• Sustainable Operations
• Tourism Policy and Planning
• Strategic Hospitality Management
• Ethics and CSR
• Technology, Change and Innovation

Modules

2023/24

• BEPM008 - Sustainable Business Management
• BEPM010 - Circular Economy Management Consultancy Services

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