Dr. Cary Countryman, a BYU-Hawaii School of Business professor, was recently elected to a three-year term as president of the international Hospitality Information Technology Association. He previously served on the organization's board of directors for five years.
HITA, which is closely associated with the International Federation for Information Technology and Travel & Tourism (IFITT), was formed about 15 years ago "to advance the inter-action between information technology educators, vendors and users in the global hospitality industry with the goal of improving both the quality of education and the technology itself," according to the organization's website.
Dr. Countryman, who is originally from Snohomish, Washington, earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University and had been teaching for five years in the University of Houston's hotel and restaurant management program. He came to BYU-Hawaii last year as a temporary replacement for Dr. William Hsu (who is serving as a Latter-day Saint mission president in Kaohsiung, Taiwan) in the School of Business' Hospitality and Tourism Management program; but he was recently appointed full-time associate professor of strategy/operations management in the international business management faculty.
"In my background I have a technical degree in data processing, and I've always been involved in management information systems," Dr. Countryman said of his new HITA position. "Prior to coming here, I taught specifically in the area of technology. Here, we tend to be more generalists."
He explained that HITA was "initially educators teaching in the field of hospitality technology," but recently more industry representatives have joined, "so it's not just education, it's really research in regards to hospitality industry technology on all different levels. The most unique thing about us is we're very much an international organization." For example, he said it was challenging to coordinate online board meetings, with directors spread between Hawaii and Scotland.
"It's an exciting time to be part of the group," Dr. Countryman continued. "And we're trying to reach out more to involve students who are interested. I need to reach out more to our management and computer information systems students."
"While hospitality and tourism is a part of business, we make a distinction with hospitality and tourism. . . and there are some unique aspects of the industry that need to be addressed. The real key from a hospitality technology perspective is in the term we use: high touch and high tech. Hospitality is a people business, and sometimes technology can get in the way. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen. It is about using technology to help us take better care of the guest."
For example, Dr. Countryman said he has been working with several student research projects on how destinations use tourism technology. "I've also done a number of research projects on website design and what constitutes good design. But I think the flaw in mine and other research is the North American perspective. Since coming here, it's interesting to see the websites my students go to. What they consider to be good website designs is very different than the North American model."
For a project he's doing with a HITA colleague in California, Dr. Countryman added he hopes to start collecting data here in the fall on what different cultures consider good website design. "We would like to possibly expand it and get students involved."
"I think our focus on Asia and the Pacific is unique," Dr. Countryman said. "That is reflected in the type of students we have. It's a unique experience to be part of this and to see all of the different cultures and things that are happening in regards to the Pacific and Asia. It's an exciting place to work."
