Maria D. Alvarez is an Associate Professor of Tourism Marketing at the Department of Tourism Administration of Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey. She is also currently the director of the Bogaziçi University Tourism Administration and Research Centre, and has participated in several destination development and research projects in Turkey, financed by organizations such as UNWTO, UNDP, Thrace Regional Development Agency, etc. Dr. Alvarez also serves in the editorial board of six academic journals and has co-edited a book on tourism as an instrument for development (forthcoming in Elsevier). She has published in leading academic tourism journals, including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism, International Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, Pasos: Journal of Tourism and Cultural Heritage and Tourism Review. Her current research interests include tourist behavior, destination marketing and e-marketing.

Atila Yüksel is Professor at the Tourism Faculty of Adnan Menderes University in Turkey. His research focuses on services marketing and management, and research methodology and he has published extensively in prestigious journals such as Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, and Cornell Quarterly Review. He also serves on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals. Author of 'Tourist Satisfaction & Complaining Behavior: Measurement & Management Issues in the Tourism & Hospitality Industry' (published by Nova) and co-author 'Heritage Tourism Destinations: Preservation, Communication and Development' (published by CABI).

Frank M. Go was professor emeritus of the Erasmus University where he held the Bewetour chair of tourism marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management, and served as member of Erasmus@Work which develops insights into new ways of working and has received the prestigious ERIM Impact Award, and serves on the Advisory Board of Media Tenor and Customer Connection. Prior to 1996 he served as professor and Head of Department at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, and Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. An editorial board member of eight international journals, he published independently and in co-authorship in, amongst others, the Economist Intelligence Unit publications, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Information Technology & Tourism. His present research interests in relation to service dominant logic, the role of heritage in innovation, governance of brand identity/image, event marketing and partnered sponsorship. He has served as consultant, adviser and researcher to the private and public sector, including Microsoft, IATA, Quality Lodgings. Frank was invited as a speaker and conference chairman at events in more than 50 countries. He was co-editor of the International Place Branding Yearbook series (2010, 2011 and 2012) and co-author of Place Branding (2009) all issued by Palgrave-McMillan, London and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategies and Processes for Success in Tourism, published by Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin. He held a PhD from the Faculty of Economics and Econometrics, University of Amsterdam.