Program (provisional)
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Innsbruck Vice-Mayor Georg Willi, UIBK Vice-Rector Dirk Rupnow (UIBK), and UNO Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Gordon “Nick” Mueller
Keynote Address: Louisiana Lt. Governor Lt. Billy Nungesser
Louisiana Tourism & Cultural Tourism
Keynote Address: Joe Pine, Cofounder, Strategic Horizons LLP
Tourism: From Experiences to Transformations
Break
Cultural Tourism: Trends and Challenges
Chair: Joe Pine, Cofounder, Strategic Horizons LLP
Carrie Broussard, Assistant Secretary, Office of Cultural Development, State of Louisiana.
Growing Culture from Within: How Louisiana Turns Heritage Into TourismChristine Maria Keth, Managing Director of Innsbruck Incoming & Convention Bureau
Innsbruck Tourism Profile and OverviewDaniel Hammer, President & CEO, Historic New Orleans Collection
Preserving the Historic Value of the French Quarter: A Museum-Centered Strategy for one of America’s Most Famous PlacesLunch Break
Sustainable Tourism
Chair: Marc Landry, Associate Professor of History UNO
Mike Peters, Professor, Dept. of Management and Marketing, University of Innsbruck
Environmental Aspects of SustainabilityBridget Bordelon, Professor and Endowed Chair, Dept. of Hospitality Management, UNO
Designing Inclusive Cultural Events: Accessibility as Sustainable PracticeRobert Steiger, Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck
Climate Change and TourismBernhard Bauer, Professor, Head of Department of International Tourism and Event Management, SRH University Campus Heidelberg
No Culture, No Future: The Neglected Key to Sustainability in TourismBreak
Sports Tourism
Chair: Bridget Bordelon, Professor and Endowed Chair, Dept. of Hospitality Management UNO
Martin Schnitzer, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Sports Science, University of Innsbruck
Effects of Large Sporting Events: The Winter OlympicsDavid Mueller, Associate Vice President for Corporate Sponsorships, Ochsner Medical Center & Executive Committee Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation
Impact of the 2025 New Orleans Super Bowl: Economic and CulturalWolfgang Meixner, Asst. Prof. Dept. of History and European Ethnology, University of Innsbruck
History of the 1976 Winter Olympics in InnsbruckReception Madonnensaal
Refreshments, International Doctoral School (IDC) Tourism and Leisure in Mountain Regions - PhD Poster Session, and Concluding Reflections from Joe Pine
Welcome Remarks
University of New Orleans President Kathy Johnson
Keynote Address: Mark Romig, Senior Advisor, New Orleans & Company and Senior Advisor Ehrhardt Group
Break
Mobility & Tourism
Chair: Mark Romig, Senior Advisor, New Orleans & Company and Senior Advisor, the Ehrhardt Group
Markus Mailer, Professor, Dept. of Transport and Transport Systems, University of Innsbruck
Dwight Norton, Chief Planning and Capital Projects Officer, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA), New Orleans
Matthias Triendl, Verkehrsverbund Tyrol
Philipp Rehberger, Tirol Werbung
Lunch Break
Trends in International Education Programs and Partnerships
Chair: Günther Bischof, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of History, University of New Orleans, Economic and Cultural Aspects of Study Abroad - Innsbruck
Economic and Cultural Aspects of Study AbroadMichael Burri, Program Officer and Editor, Journal of Austrian-American History, The Botstiber Foundation
Hermann Agis, Executive Director, Fulbright Austria
Karin Emprechtinger, Executive Director, Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation
Franz-Stefan Meissel, Director, University of Vienna Summer School for International and European Studies
Break
Back to the Future Roundtable: 50th Anniversary of the UNO International Summer School and the UNO/UIBK Partnership
Chairs: Gerhard Rampl, Marc Landry
Gordon “Nick” Mueller, Founding President and CEO Emeritus, The National World War II Museum, New Orleans
How the Summer School Started 50 Years AgoErich Thöni, Professor Emeritus, Dept of Public Finance, University of Innsbruck
History of the Friendship TreatyFranz Mathis, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Economic and Social History, University of Innsbruck
The Innsbruck SideMargaret Davidson, Asst. Professor and Director, Academic Year Abroad, UNO
Summer School and AYAGuenter Bischof, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of History, UNO
30th Anniversary Innsbruck - New Orleans Partnership & Highlighted Research – Center AustriaClosing Reception/Dinner