Simon Hudson, Ph.D., Professor and Endowed Chair, the Richardson Family SmartState Center for Economic Excellence in Tourism and Economic Development

Simon Hudson received his MBA from the California State University and his Ph.D. in consumer behavior from the University of Surrey, UK. Dr. Hudson is an internationally recognized tourism expert who has written books on tourism marketing, golf tourism, the international ski industry, sports and adventure tourism, and customer service. Prior to coming to South Carolina as a SmartState Endowed Chair, he held academic positions at universities in Canada and England, and has worked as a visiting professor in Australia, Austria, Fiji, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland. Dr. Hudson has also taught twice on Semester at Sea, a floating shipboard campus that integrates multiple-country study, interdisciplinary coursework, and hands-on field experiences for meaningful engagement in the global community. Prior to academia, Hudson spent several years working in the tourism industry in Europe.

Hudson has written eight books. His first, published in 2000 and called Snow Business, was the first book to be written about the international ski industry, and Sports and Adventure Tourism was an edited text that came out in 2003. His third book (in two editions), Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality: A Canadian Perspective, has sold more than 10,000 copies, and Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective was published in 2008. His 2010 book, Golf Tourism, was the first text written about this vast and growing worldwide industry, and he has since written a second edition. In 2013 he published a book called Customer Service for Tourism & Hospitality, and in 2016 a book titled Winter Sport Tourism: Working in Winter Wonderlands. His most recent textbook will be published by Sage in 2017 and will be called Marketing for Tourism, Hospitality and Events. The marketing of tourism is the focus of his research, and in addition to the books, he has published over 60 refereed journal articles from his work. Hudson is frequently invited to international tourism conferences as a keynote speaker.