The rapid growth of tourism across the Asia-Pacific region is reflected in the substantial growth in the demand for tourism and hospitality education. As the number of institutions and educators across the region continues to climb, so does the need for us to have a strong Asia-Pacific wide body that engages with the professional body of educators.

APacCHRIE is the leading body for hospitality and tourism educators in the Asia-Pacific region, and it is also is an integral part of ICHRIE (which was founded back in 1947 in the USA). Our Federation's secretariat is based at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (SAR-China), and we have a diverse membership consisting of both individuals and institutions. It includes educators drawn from both the public and private sectors, and also covers vocational training institutes to universities. We have members located as far south as New Zealand to as far north as Japan, as well as from India over to The Philippines.

Our annual conference is the region's premier event for hospitality and tourism educators to meet, discuss issues relating to curriculum and course design, and to present research. Annual conferences have also been hosted in a diverse range of locations - from Phuket to Perth, and from Beijing to Bangkok (for 2010). Over the years we have also worked collaboratively with other like-minded organisations such as the Asia-Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) and the International Centre of Excellence in Tourism & Hospitality Education (THE-ICE). We now look forward to working in collaboration with the many national hospitality and tourism educator bodies that also exist across our region - such as COHREP in The Philippines, CAUTHE in Australia and so forth.

On behalf of the Board of APacCHRIE, I invite and welcome you to join us and to get involved in APacCHRIE. As a Board, we aim to ensure that APacCHRIE continues to evolve to serve its members. We aim to offer our members an increasing range of web-based resources and opportunities to network with colleagues across the region - and also with other ICHRIE members in EuroCHRIE and the various other Federations in the Americas.

Looking ahead, our 2010 conference will be hosted by Prince of Songkla University in Bangkok, Thailand; our 2011 conference will be hosted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong (SAR-China); and then our 2012 conference will be hosted by Asia's oldest university - the University Santo Tomas in Manila, The Philippines - which was founded back in 1611. We look forward to meeting you at one of these events.