Thomas Steiner
Curriculum Vitae
About
Contact [email protected] [email protected] Personal blog on artificial intelligence: good-morning.ai |
Education & Degrees
Professional Experience
Awards & Distinctions
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Biography
Prof. Dr. Thomas Steiner has been committed to digitalisation in tourism and education for over 25 years.
After his Master's degree in Business Information Systems at HEC Lausanne, Thomas was given the opportunity for a PhD with Professor Pierre Bonzon, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His work focused on the application of artificial intelligence in tourism. Together with Yves Pigneur, he published his first paper in 1996 and presented it at the ENTER conference in Innsbruck. Further publications have followed regularly, mainly in the IFITT and AIEST community.
In 2000, Thomas left the University of Lausanne and became involved in the Universities of Applied Sciences. At the HES-SO Valais, he initially taught business information systems as a full professor. His dual profile in IT and tourism allowed him to take over as director of the Swiss School of Tourism in 2007. He transformed the HF curriculum into a Bachelor's degree programme accredited by the HES-SO. The faculty recognised his early achievements in strategic and operational management and subsequently entrusted him with the responsibility of the entire Business School. Despite his fulfilling duties in higher education management, Thomas has never completely left research and teaching. In 2016, he received the best paper award at the Advances in Destination Management forum in Vail for his paper DMO-X Lean Destination Management in the Fribourg Region. The same year, his co-authored contribution Implementing Lean Destination Management with Strategic Visitor Flow (SVF) Analysis was distinguished with the AIEST best paper award in Malta. During his academic years, Thomas has acquired analytical, editorial, pedagogical and leadership skills.
At a keynote by Rudolf Strahm on the economic significance of the dual education system in Switzerland, Thomas realised that his curriculum did not yet include any business experience. Following the motto practice what you preach, he switched from academia to business. As director of the Fribourg Region, he implemented operationally the development strategy Vision 2030, which he had previously written as a consultant for the board of the Fribourg Tourism Union. In this role, he developed an understanding of complex change processes. He also sat on the advisory board of the Glion Institute for Higher Education for a short period of time before the institution entered a profound change process. He led the Fribourg Region to a lean destination, consistently aligned it with the guest needs and transformed the outdated structures into a contemporary, open ecosystem. In 2017, Thomas handed over a modern, future-oriented tourism destination to his successor and began another change process in a family real estate holding company. His mission there was to accompany the generational change. This commitment to real estate made his childhood dream come true. In close cooperation with the family, he initiated the important reorientation of the business, but at the same time became aware of his limits in the sales area. After an intense and demanding decade in business, he was given the opportunity to concentrate on his strengths in the digital transformation of tourism and education. In 2020, Thomas founded the family business immotour ltd together with his wife Myriam. As a consultant, he accompanies change processes, mainly in tourism organisations, businesses and institutions. The 2024-2027 strategy of the Jura 3 Lacs region is an example of Thomas' recent consulting expertise. He constantly refines and applies his transition method, which he conceived over twenty years ago during his studies. With his own family business, Thomas has fulfilled another childhood dream.
The HES-SO then entrusted him with the responsibility of the Cyberlearn e-Learning centre in 2021 and allowed him to go back to research and teaching with a full professorship. Thomas has since combined employment and self-employment. In the business analysis course, he shares his consultancy experience with the students. In return, he lets them participate in the further refinement of his method for transformation processes through his agile teaching. Thomas applies the same principles and tools to the reorientation of the e-learning centre. As the person responsible for Cyberlearn, he takes on the role of an "internal" consultant at the HES-SO. He works directly with the education department and maintains active contacts with the Rectorate, as well as with Swiss and European partner institutions. Since his return to the HES-SO Valais, Thomas has also again undertaken research. Together with a small team, he is studying the potential of neural networks for determining real estate prices in Swiss tourist destinations. He closed the circle between practice and academia and received the AIEST award for the best contribution uniting theory and practice in 2021 for his contribution Web scraping for real estate list prices in Swiss tourism destinations - the advent of citizen brokers?
Today, Thomas is the president of Vercorin Tourism and a board member of several institutions such as Switzerland Tourism. He likes to share his expertise publicly, for example, at the Hotel Innovationstag, at the Swiss Tourism Forum, through his Chronicles in the Hotel & Tourismus Revue. Thomas defines himself as a human-pragmatic visionary. Influenced by the writings of Maurice Zundel, he strongly believes in people. Those who pay some attention to their lives discover greater and deeper things than themselves. Thus, individual and collective growth means a lot to Thomas. This human component deepens his competencies and makes him a thoughtful and compassionate sparring partner for personal and institutional change processes.
After his Master's degree in Business Information Systems at HEC Lausanne, Thomas was given the opportunity for a PhD with Professor Pierre Bonzon, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His work focused on the application of artificial intelligence in tourism. Together with Yves Pigneur, he published his first paper in 1996 and presented it at the ENTER conference in Innsbruck. Further publications have followed regularly, mainly in the IFITT and AIEST community.
In 2000, Thomas left the University of Lausanne and became involved in the Universities of Applied Sciences. At the HES-SO Valais, he initially taught business information systems as a full professor. His dual profile in IT and tourism allowed him to take over as director of the Swiss School of Tourism in 2007. He transformed the HF curriculum into a Bachelor's degree programme accredited by the HES-SO. The faculty recognised his early achievements in strategic and operational management and subsequently entrusted him with the responsibility of the entire Business School. Despite his fulfilling duties in higher education management, Thomas has never completely left research and teaching. In 2016, he received the best paper award at the Advances in Destination Management forum in Vail for his paper DMO-X Lean Destination Management in the Fribourg Region. The same year, his co-authored contribution Implementing Lean Destination Management with Strategic Visitor Flow (SVF) Analysis was distinguished with the AIEST best paper award in Malta. During his academic years, Thomas has acquired analytical, editorial, pedagogical and leadership skills.
At a keynote by Rudolf Strahm on the economic significance of the dual education system in Switzerland, Thomas realised that his curriculum did not yet include any business experience. Following the motto practice what you preach, he switched from academia to business. As director of the Fribourg Region, he implemented operationally the development strategy Vision 2030, which he had previously written as a consultant for the board of the Fribourg Tourism Union. In this role, he developed an understanding of complex change processes. He also sat on the advisory board of the Glion Institute for Higher Education for a short period of time before the institution entered a profound change process. He led the Fribourg Region to a lean destination, consistently aligned it with the guest needs and transformed the outdated structures into a contemporary, open ecosystem. In 2017, Thomas handed over a modern, future-oriented tourism destination to his successor and began another change process in a family real estate holding company. His mission there was to accompany the generational change. This commitment to real estate made his childhood dream come true. In close cooperation with the family, he initiated the important reorientation of the business, but at the same time became aware of his limits in the sales area. After an intense and demanding decade in business, he was given the opportunity to concentrate on his strengths in the digital transformation of tourism and education. In 2020, Thomas founded the family business immotour ltd together with his wife Myriam. As a consultant, he accompanies change processes, mainly in tourism organisations, businesses and institutions. The 2024-2027 strategy of the Jura 3 Lacs region is an example of Thomas' recent consulting expertise. He constantly refines and applies his transition method, which he conceived over twenty years ago during his studies. With his own family business, Thomas has fulfilled another childhood dream.
The HES-SO then entrusted him with the responsibility of the Cyberlearn e-Learning centre in 2021 and allowed him to go back to research and teaching with a full professorship. Thomas has since combined employment and self-employment. In the business analysis course, he shares his consultancy experience with the students. In return, he lets them participate in the further refinement of his method for transformation processes through his agile teaching. Thomas applies the same principles and tools to the reorientation of the e-learning centre. As the person responsible for Cyberlearn, he takes on the role of an "internal" consultant at the HES-SO. He works directly with the education department and maintains active contacts with the Rectorate, as well as with Swiss and European partner institutions. Since his return to the HES-SO Valais, Thomas has also again undertaken research. Together with a small team, he is studying the potential of neural networks for determining real estate prices in Swiss tourist destinations. He closed the circle between practice and academia and received the AIEST award for the best contribution uniting theory and practice in 2021 for his contribution Web scraping for real estate list prices in Swiss tourism destinations - the advent of citizen brokers?
Today, Thomas is the president of Vercorin Tourism and a board member of several institutions such as Switzerland Tourism. He likes to share his expertise publicly, for example, at the Hotel Innovationstag, at the Swiss Tourism Forum, through his Chronicles in the Hotel & Tourismus Revue. Thomas defines himself as a human-pragmatic visionary. Influenced by the writings of Maurice Zundel, he strongly believes in people. Those who pay some attention to their lives discover greater and deeper things than themselves. Thus, individual and collective growth means a lot to Thomas. This human component deepens his competencies and makes him a thoughtful and compassionate sparring partner for personal and institutional change processes.