2023 Global ESG Conference Report

The 2023 ESG Conference was successfully held in Seoul, Korea, on May 31, 2023.

The conference was co-hosted with the Korea Tourism Research Association (KTRA: Chaired by Dr. Choong Ki Lee) and sponsored by numerous government agencies, universities, and private sectors.

A total of 250 participants from 13 countries and regions, including the USA, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Switzerland, Brazil, Indonesia, Finland, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, etc., to network and discuss the critical issues with ESG strategies. The conference started with the keynote speakers, Mr. Ramu Damodaran (former Chief Director of UN Academic Impact) and Dean Kaye Chon (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), followed by traditional Korean dance performances.

We held five sessions:
(1) ESG practices in tourism and hospitality;
(2) ESG strategies;
(3) ESG and Customer relationships in tourism and hospitality;
(4) graduate student research; and
(5) ESG global student challenge.

Specifically, 48 stand-up presentations (13 for the global session and 35 for the Korean session) and 33 poster presentations (9 for the global session and 22 for the Korean session) made the conference successful. Two ESG global student challenge winners are

(1) The limitless ACCESS app for traveling disabled persons (DPs) presented by Kwanrutai Chawtai, Worapun Krueyos, and Chamongkhon Mangfuegphan from the Prince of Songkhlan University Phuket, Thailand

(2) Green Token: Connecting hotels and people presented by Cha Yoo Bin & Ng Tin Yee from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

At the end of the conference, Professor Kaye Chon, Professor Achim Schmitt, and Professor Ki-Joon Back conducted an expert panel discussion to challenge the stakeholders to develop and implement ESG practices. Besides, 12 industry sponsors promoted their ESG practices in a separate booth.

We hope to have another successful conference next summer and meet many of you in person.

2023 Global ESG Conference

Date : May 31, 2023

Venue : COEX Conference Hall E, SEOUL

Host : Korea Tourism Research Association, Consortium for Global Sustainability (CGS)

Sponsor : The Korea Economic Daily