The Annual JHTM Awards serve as a platform to honor and celebrate exceptional contributions to our journal, both in terms of published papers and peer review. They play a pivotal role in enhancing the prestige and quality of JHTM as a premier publication in the fields of tourism and hospitality. The winners were officially announced during the annual CAUTHE 2025 Conference in Brisbane, Australia.

A video of the JHTM awards is available at the CAUTHE Youtube Channel.

JHTM Best Paper Award

The winning article was based on usage statistics and Scopus citation counts of the published papers and an assessment of the papers’ contribution to the research field.

The Best Paper Award

The winners for their paper Digital destination storytelling: Narrative persuasion effects induced by story satisfaction in a VR contex were Nao Li , Leyan Li, Xiaoming Chen and IpKin Anthony Wong.

Highly Commended Paper Awards

There were two highly commended paper awards:

• Tatyana Bastrygina, Weng Marc Lim, Ryan Jopp and Marc Arul Weissmann, Unraveling the power of social media influencers: Qualitative insights into the role of Instagram influencers in the hospitality and tourism industry
• Ancy Gamage, Joanne Pyke, Terry de Lacy Building resilience and sustainable HRM in the visitor economy: An uneasy relationship

JHTM Top Reviewer Awards

The decision for the top reviewer awards was based on both the number and speed of the reviews, as well as the quality of the reviews provided by these individuals. The 2024 Best Reviewer Award winners were:

• Dr Ashwin Baliga, IÉSEG School of Management, Paris, France
• Yedan Fan, Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Chin-Hsun (Ken) Tsai, Iowa State University
• Dr Prokopis A Christou, Cyprus University of Technology

The winning papers will be available for free access later in February (pending confirmation). The full list of winners will be available on the ScienceDirect after the conference.