Marcella De Martino is a researcher at Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS) - National Research Council (CNR). Her main research field is port competitiveness from a managerial and organisational perspective. In recent years, she has broadened her research interests to include: knowledge transfer and tourism destination competitiveness; service innovation and collaboration for SME's competitiveness. Extensive research has resulted in a large number of national and international publications. She is a founding member of the t-Forum Association. Noel Scott is Professor and Deputy Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism at Griffith University, Gold Coast Australia. His research interests include the study of tourism experiences, destination management and stakeholder organisation. He is a frequent speaker at international academic and industry conferences. He has over 210 academic publications, including 13 books. He has supervised 18 doctoral students to successful completion of their theses. Prior to his academic career, Noel worked as a senior manager at Tourism Queensland and Research and Planning Manager at Suncorp Building Society. Mathilda Van Niekerk is an Assistant Professor in the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, USA. She has over 100 academic publications (refereed journal articles, books, book chapters, case studies, encyclopedia entries, training manuals, industry reports and conference papers). Her research focuses on festivals and events, destination marketing and management and hospitality and strategic management. Dr. Van Niekerk is the Managing Editor for the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM). Prior to her academic career she had extensive experience in mega-events and festivals, local economic development, tourism and trade in South Africa.