Dr. Irena Weber's guest visit to China

Dr. Irena Weber visited China between May 24 and June 17, 2023. She was invited by the University of Ningbo to participate in the 6th seminar of the Belt and Road Initiative on the topic of Higher Education in Tourism. She presented a paper titled "Uses of Art in Tourism Education." During her visit, she had several working meetings with representatives of the University of Ningbo to discuss possibilities for collaboration between the University of Ningbo and the University of Primorska. She also gave a lecture titled "Tea and hospitality: European-Chinese dialogue and UNESCO intangible heritage" at the seminar for postgraduate students.

As part of her trip, Dr. Weber had a working meeting in Shanghai with the new dean, associate dean, and director of the partner Institution SUIBE: Chunlei Huang, Qinqin Ye, and Zhaokun Zhang. They discussed the recent developments in the composition and programs of SUIBE over the past five years. The discussions also revolved around plans for further collaboration in the areas of mobility, joint research, and publications. There was significant interest in involving students in specific tasks and challenges focused on sustainable tourism and intangible heritage.

In Beijing, Dr. Weber had a working meeting with Professor Yehong Sun from the Tourism College, Beijing Union University. Professor Sun presented an ongoing research project on tea culture in Guangdong and expressed a keen interest in collaboration in the areas of sustainable tourism, cultural heritage, Erasmus exchanges, joint projects, and publications.

Dr. Irena Weber conducted research on the topic of tea culture and its inclusion in the UNESCO intangible heritage list in hotels and tea houses in Ningbo, Shanghai, Beijing, and the National Museum near West Lake.

The Green, Digital & Inclusive University of Primorska (GDI UP) project was also presented during the visit: https://www.upr.si/si/o-univerzi/gdi-up/.