Rich Harrill

Rich Harrill has a strong record of success in and an international reputation for leveraging his academic and professional experience combining tourism with economic development and urban planning to drive local, regional, national and international business, tourism and economic growth. Harrill brings an industry-driven business mode and academic entrepreneurship to the university level.

Currently, in his role as director of the International Tourism Research Institute (ITRI) at the University of South Carolina, Harrill conducts studies on applied research to provide practical solutions to increase U.S. and international tourism industry competitiveness, resulting in additional revenues and strong economic development opportunities.

Harrill has focused extensively on international tourism and economic development. He collaborated with the U.S. Travel Association and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries on the definitive study of future Chinese outbound tourism to the U.S., potentially leading to additional tourism dollars for both China and the United States. In doing this research, he directly influenced both U.S. and China federal policies to enable cultural and research exchanges. He is currently working with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism on a study of the recent decline in Japanese tourists to the United States. He also has conducted additional research in the Dominican Republic on tourism development, and accepted a two-month appointment as a visiting professor at the University of Aruba.

Harrill earned his Ph.D. in parks, recreation, and tourism management and his master's degree in city and regional planning from Clemson University. He holds a B.A. in political science from the College of Charleston. He has published his research in urban planning's top three journals: the Journal of American Planning Association, Journal of Planning Education and Research and Journal of Planning Literature. The Journal of the American Planning Association is the top-ranked journal for urban studies and number-two ranked journal for planning and development.

Harrill edited Fundamentals of Destination Management and Marketing (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2005), the first comprehensive textbook for the destination management industry. He is also co-editor of the International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research and research notes editor of Tourism Analysis.