Stand your ground: The case for publishing in hospitality and tourism journals

The hospitality and tourism field has been struggling for academic legitimacy since its founding. Despite the impressive growth of research in the field, as well as the publication of a respectable number of high-quality scientific journals, voices are being heard from the community of hospitality and tourism researchers calling for more focused efforts on publication in journals of more established and traditional disciplines. It is argued here that this demand may have negative implications for research in the field, on the contribution of academia to the industry, and on the advancement of the career of hospitality and tourism scholars. The scientific community should reverse this trend and instead concentrate its efforts on developing the field by promoting publishing in hospitality and tourism journals in order to promote relevant, up-to-date, and innovative research for the benefit of science and industry.