Emeritus Professor David Simmons, CNZM, of Christchurch, for services to tourism and tertiary education
Emeritus Professor David Simmons founded tourism studies at Lincoln University and established the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Tourism. He has contributed to international tourism planning and education in numerous countries and advised the World Wildlife Fund and United Nations World Tourism Organisation. He was Project Leader for a number of Foundation for Research, Science and Technology-funded multi-year programmes for tourism planning and yield and was Director of Research at the Australian Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre. He is widely published and a frequent keynote speaker. For many years he authored Tourism Industry Aotearoa’s annual ‘State of the Industry’ report. Professor Simmons has contributed to numerous government tourism strategies, particularly advising the New Zealand Tourism Sector on the future of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era.