Sustainable tourism expert joins Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism

Connor Clark, Ph.D., an expert in sustainable tourism, has joined the Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Clark, who came to the department in August, brings expertise in sustainable nature-based tourism with an emphasis on ecological and resource conservation in tourism development.

“Having someone with Dr. Clark’s focus on sustainable tourism and an eye for resilient and thriving communities brings a further dimension to the scholarly efforts of our department,” said Brian King, Ph.D., head of the Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism. “He will also bring greater depth to our understanding of international hospitality and tourism, including the perspectives of diverse populations and global communities.”

Clark earned a doctoral degree in community resources and development with an emphasis in tourism management from Arizona State University; a master’s degree in global management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, Phoenix; and a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He also has had international study experiences, including study abroad courses in South Africa and Mexico.

Clark’s role and previous experience

In his role as an assistant professor in the department, Clark is responsible for developing and teaching coursework in hospitality, hotel management and tourism. He will also design and conduct tourism-related research and advise graduate students.

Before coming to Texas A&M University, Clark was an assistant professor in the Recreation and Tourism Management Program in the School of Human Ecology at Georgia Southern University.

There, he designed and taught recreation and tourism management courses and conducted tourism and recreation research. He also assisted with program design, marketing and recruiting.

Clark also has experience as a research assistant for Arizona State University and Arizona State Parks and Trails, helping develop the Arizona Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan.

He was also a research associate at the Center for Sustainable Tourism at Arizona State University, where he had additional duties as an instructor in the School of Community Resources and Development.

Along with research and teaching, Clark’s passions include helping micro- and small businesses. Prior to his academic career, he served as a market analyst and then director of field operations for Elevate Global in Lima, Peru; a microenterprise consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Lima; and he has experience in caregiving services, including hospice care.  

“I am very excited to take my international development background and integrate it into my tourism teaching and research so that it brings an international and community development focus,” Clark said.  

Tourism and ecological conservation  

Some of the research projects in which Clark has been involved include: 

• A New Vision for Sustainability in the Southwest Borderlands: How Ecological Restoration Can Invite Tourism, Regional Economic Opportunities and Improved Cross-border Relations.
• Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan for Arizona, Arizona State Parks and Trails.
• Understanding the Changing Relationships of Indigenous Peoples with their Natural Environments: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Clark has been published in several well-known refereed journals, including the Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Current Issues in Tourism, Journal of Ecotourism, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, and Tourism Review International. He also has articles accepted for publication in the Handbook on Crisis and Disaster Management in Tourism. Some of the topics of his work include:

• Building community resilience at a cross-border destination.
• Preserving and protecting resources at the Arizona-Mexico border through sustainable tourism development and ecological restoration.
• Agave: The peculiar plant fueling new tourism trends and saving endangered species. 

He also has given numerous conference presentations on topics ranging from tourism potential and appreciation at the U.S.-Mexico border, the political ecology of border landscapes, engaging tourism and conservation stakeholders in the Sky Island borderlands to tourism development and ecological restoration and the use of technology in nature-based tourism.

“As a proud new member of the department, I look forward to continuing my focus on issues related to sustainable tourism development, resource preservation and resilient communities at the U.S.-Mexico border, across Texas and in Latin America,” Clark said.