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Full-time Academic Staff: Teaching Staff

Professor Benjamin L Iaquinto 艾焜陶
助理教授

Iaquinto_BL.jpg

Room 10.33

391 77021

iaquinto@hku.hk

Assistant Professor

PhD (Melbourne), BSc (Hons) (Monash)

Office:

Phone:

Email:

I am a human geographer researching how tourist practices and mobilities (dis)connect people from pro-environmental ways of living. I have over 16 years of experience researching issues of sustainability, environment and tourism. Originally from Australia, I have lived in Hong Kong since 2015 and led projects on mobility politics, sustainable tourism and lively commodification. Current projects explore the biopolitics of tourism and pro-environmental tourist practices among China’s Generation Z. My work has appeared in leading academic journals and I have been interviewed by global media outlets such as CNN, Fortune and BBC. I am an Associate Editor for Tourism Geographies and a Steering Committee member of AusMob the Australian Mobilities Research Network.

Research Interests

  • Tourism Geography

  • Sustainability

  • Mobilities

  • Practices

  • Asia-Pacific

  • Tourism politics

  • Backpackers

Courses
Profile

GEOG2057

Leisure and Recreation in Modern Society

6

credits

Annual; 2nd Semester

Profile

GEOG3304

Tourism Policy and Planning

6

credits

Annual; 2nd Semester

Selected Publications

  2024  

  • Gerlofs, B, Iaquinto, BL, Poon, KYN and Tsang, CTY. "Tank to Table: Hong Kong’s Wet Markets and the Geographies of Lively Commodification Beyond Companionship". Annals of the American Association of Geographers.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2304200
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L., Cheer, J. M., Roelofsen, M., Minca, C., Ong, C.-E., Wong, C., Lapointe, D., Qu, M., McCormick, A., & Lin, C.-C. T. "Coercive geographies: Biopower, spatial politics, and the tourist". Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 42(2), 149–170. 
    https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544231194828 

  2023  

  • Bissell, B., Birtchnell, T., Duffy, M., Fozdar, F., Iaquinto, B.L., Radford, D. & Rickards, L. "Region power for mobilities research". Australian Geographer 54(3), 251-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2023.2245624
     

  • Iaquinto, B.L., Bennett, M.M. & Liu, X. "The biopolitics of Chinese tourism governance in the Arctic". Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2023.2224356
     

  • Iaquinto, BL. “The Go-Along: A mobile method for backpacker research”. In Backpacking Culture and Mobilities: Independent and Nomadic Travel (pp. 72-95). M O’Regan (ed), Channel View: Bristol.
     

  • Iaquinto, BL., Barber, L. & Yu, PS. "Grounding Mobility: Protest Atmospheres at Hong Kong International Airport". Annals of the American Association of Geographers 113(4), 933-948. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2151405
     

  • Bennett, MM & Iaquinto, BL. "The geopolitics of China’s Arctic tourism resources." Territory, Politics, Governance 11(7), 1281-1302  https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2021.1887755
     

  • Barry, K & Iaquinto, BL. "Hostel frictions: backpackers living under lockdown." Mobilities 18(1), 37-53. 
    https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2022.2062256
     

  • Agyeiwaah, E., Pratt, P., Iaquinto, B. L. and Suntikul, W. "Social identity positively impacts sustainable behaviors of backpackers." Tourism Geographies 25(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1819401

  2022  

  • Tham, A, Iaquinto, BL and Driml, S. “Navigating external referencing through COVID-19 disruptions - Teaching tourism policy and planning in Australia and China”. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 30, 100350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2021.100350
     

  • Shelton, MR, Bos, JJ, Collins, KB, Ison RL, & Iaquinto, BL. "Characterising water sensitive cities through inquiry-based learning systems". Australasian Journal of Water Resources 26(2), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2022.2076300

  2021  

  • Ison, RL, Collins, K and Iaquinto, BL. "Designing an inquiry-based learning system: Innovating in research praxis to transform science–policy–practice relations for sustainable development." Systems Research and Behavioral Science 38(5), 610-624.  https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2811
     

  • Lee, H.Y. and Iaquinto, B.L. “Marketing Ulaanbaatar as a dynamic city with a nomadic soul”. In Tourism in Asian Cities (pp. 147-160). S. K. Dixit (ed), Routledge: Abingdon. 

  2020  

  • Iaquinto, B. L. "Tourist as vector: Viral mobilities of COVID-19." Dialogues in Human Geography. 10(2): 174-177. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820620934250
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L. "Understanding the place-making practices of backpackers." Tourist Studies 20(3) 336–353 https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797620927308
     

  • Choi, S-H, Iaquinto, B. L. and Wong, C. U. I. "Sojourners in Macau: blurring binaries of home/away and work/leisure." Leisure Studies 39(6): 811-824
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L. and Pratt, S. "Practicing Sustainability as a Backpacker: The Role of Nationality." International Journal of Tourism Research 22:100–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2321

  2019  

  • Zhang, V., Kelly, D., Castro, R. L., Iaquinto, B. L., Hughes, A., Edensor, T., McKay, C., Lobo, M., Kennedy, M., Wolifson, P., Ratnam, C., Buckle, C., Dorignon, L.,  Adamczyk, E., Barry, K. and Bissell, D. “Experiential Attunements in an Illuminated City at Night: A Pedagogical Writing Experiment.” GeoHumanities 5:2, 468-495

  2018  

  • Iaquinto, B. L. “Working Holiday Makers in Australia: Food Security, Climate Change and the ‘Backpacker Tax’.” Geographical Research 56(1): 107-112. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12261
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L. “Backpacker Mobilities: Inadvertent Sustainability Amidst the Fluctuating Pace of Travel.” Mobilities 13(4): 569-583. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2017.1394682
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L. “Attaining Urban Water Sustainability in Hong Kong: Three Suggestions.” Area 50(3): 430-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12405
     

  • Iaquinto, B. L. “A Mixed Methods Approach in Tourism Research.” In Qualitative Methods in Tourism Research: Theory and Practice (pp. 224-247). W. Hillman and K. Radel (eds), Channel View: Bristol. ​

  2016 

  • Iaquinto, B. L. “Strengths and Weakness of Using Mixed Methods to Detect the Sustainable Practices of Backpackers: A Reflexive Account.” Journal of Cleaner Production 111: 479-486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.013

  2015  

  2014  

  • Floyd, J., Iaquinto, B. L., Ison, R. and Collins, K. “Managing Complexity in Australian Urban Water Governance: Transitioning Sydney to a Water Sensitive City.” Futures 61: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.04.002
     

  • Ison, R, Blackmore, C, Collins, K, Holwell, S and Iaquinto, BL. "Insights into Operationalizing Communities of Practice from SSM-Based Inquiry Processes." Systemic Practice and Action Research 27: 91-114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-012-9275-3

  2013  

  • Ison, R., Blackmore, C. and Iaquinto, B. L. “Towards Systemic and Adaptive Governance: Exploring the Revealing and Concealing Aspects of Contemporary Social Learning Metaphors.” Ecological Economics 87: 34-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.12.016

  2012  

  2011  

Grants

2023

‘Understanding Independent Tourist Practices: Hiking, driving, and lying flat’, Hui Oi-Chow Trust Fund, $HKD70,000 (Principal Investigator)

2020

‘A social and cultural geographical exploration of Anthropocene: human-land interactions, environmental governance and social experiments.’ National Natural Science Foundation of China (Co-investigator). Amount: RMB550000

2019

‘Enhancing urban, transport and tourism research with wearable technologies’ University of Hong Kong, Provost’s Office. Amount: HKD115,500

2019

‘Viability of high speed rail as a low carbon tourist transport option in Hong Kong: a political economy perspective.’ University of Hong Kong, Seed Fund for Basic Research for New Staff (Principal Investigator). Amount: HKD130,000

2011

‘Opening conversations for communities of practice in water governance: Sydney’. Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority and Blacktown City Council (Co-investigator). Amount: AUD12000

Invited Lectures

2023

Grounding Mobility: Protest Atmospheres at Hong Kong International Airport

School of Social Sciences, Monash University, 10 August.

2023

Tank to Table: The lively commodities of Hong Kong’s seafood wet markets

School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne, 8 August (with Ben Gerlofs).

2023

Locating pro-environmental vernacular capacities of tourism

David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, 29 March.

2017

Welcome to the Anthropocene: geographical knowledge for a world we made.

Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, USA, assembly address, 4 April.

2016

Backpacker Mobilities: slowing down for sustainability?

Australia and International Tourism Research Unit Symposium ‘Emerging Themes in Tourism Research’, Monash University, 18 March.

2016

Backpacking in an Unsustainable World: the places and practices of mobile people.

Department of Geography and Resource Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 16 February.

Media Coverage

2024

China says it’s easier than ever for Americans to visit the country. CNN Travel, 9 January. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/american-tourist-visas-china-intl-hnk/index.html

2023

「特種兵」襲港！「爆買」變「暴走」Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly, 7 August, issue 557.

2021

A New Class of Traveler. Fortune, April/May p. 20.

2020

The ‘flights to nowhere’ phenomenon. World Business Report, BBC World Service, interview with Clare Williamson. 10 November. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172x58r8rv4wk1

2020

‘Flights to nowhere’ are popular. Experts explain the psychology behind the COVID-era concept. Fortune,
11 October. https://fortune.com/2020/10/11/covid-travel-flights-to-nowhere-psychology/

2020

What will the national security law mean for travelers -- and Hong Kong's tourism recovery? CNN Travel, 9th July. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/hong-kong-travel-national-security-law/index.html

2020

The future of tourism in the coronavirus era: Asia may hold answers to what's ahead. CNN Travel, 11 May.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/tourism-future-asia-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

2020

The Economy is Deglobalising. What Happens Next is Up to Us. Lynk Global, 28 April.

https://www.blog.lynk.global/2020/04/28/covid-19-deglobalisation/  

2020

過度旅遊釀「完美風暴」人類自食其果, Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly, 1 April.

https://monthly.hkej.com/monthly/article/id/2423403/%E9%81%8E%E5%BA%A6%E6%97%85%E9%81%8A%E9%87%80%E3%80%8C%E5%AE%8C%E7%BE%8E%E9%A2%A8%E6%9A%B4%E3%80%8D

2017

Climate change closer to home than we think, Young Post (South China Morning Post), 19th October.

http://yp.scmp.com/news/special-reports/article/107596/climate-change-closer-home-we-think

​

Knowledge Transfer

2020

Barry, K., Iaquinto, BL and Lobo, M. Lockdown life: migrant farmworkers in regional Australia. 24 November, Geography Directions. https://blog.geographydirections.com/2020/11/24/lockdown-life-migrant-farmworkers-in-regional-australia/

2020

Bennett, M. M., Barber, L. B. and Iaquinto, B. L. The Campus as Battleground: Placing the University Within the Hong Kong Protests. 21 January, Antipode Online. https://antipodeonline.org/2020/01/21/the-campus-as-battleground/

2017

Backpacker tax ‘fiasco’ reveals interdependence between transient and resident communities, 1 February, Bang the Table. http://www.bangthetable.com/backpacker-tax-on-transient-and-resident-communities/

2016

How Backpacker Communities Engage With Resident Communities, 22 June, Bang the Table. http://bangthetable.com/2016/06/22/backpacker-communities-engage-resident-communities/

2015

Seven Sustainability Lessons We Can Learn From Backpackers (with Kathryn Williams), 12 February, The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/seven-sustainability-lessons-we-can-all-learn-from-backpackers-37350

Editorial Board Memberships

  • Tourism Geographies (Associate Editor)

  • Frontiers in Sustainable Tourism

  • AAG Review of Books

  • Journal of Responsible Tourism Management

  • Mobilities

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