Zheng Xiang

Zheng (Phil) Xiang is a Professor and Department Head in the Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business. His research focuses on e-Tourism, travel behavior, and tourism analytics, leveraging big data and machine learning. He has held leadership roles including President of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Information Technology & Tourism.

Education: PhD from Temple University (2008), MS from University of Illinois (2003), BS from Xi’an Jiaotong University (1988).

Research interests include online review dynamics, social media marketing, and smart tourism design. Key contributions span over 100 publications, including seminal work on travel information search and AI applications in hospitality. Awards include Clarivate's Highly Cited Researcher (2019-2023) and multiple best paper awards.

Teaching courses: Undergraduate HTM 4354 (Information Technology & Social Media) and graduate HTM 5464 (Business Analytics in Hospitality). Professional engagements include editorial board roles at Tourism Management and invited speaking at global forums.

Advisement includes PhD students Huihui Zhang and Yutong Han. His work bridges academic research with industry applications, emphasizing data-driven solutions for hospitality and tourism challenges.