Robertico Croes CV/Resume

Expertise: Tourism Economics, Human Development, Poverty, and Tourism Management with a special interest in small and developing economies.

Dr. Robertico Croes is the Editor of the Rosen Research Review; and a Professor at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He has authored five books, issued more than 100 published works, contributed to more than twenty books, and emitted more than 30 industry reports. His most recent books are entitled Small Island and Small Destination Tourism and A Modern Guide to Tourism Economics. He is an internationally recognized authority in tourism economics and management focusing on human development in constrained economies.

He recently co-authored the report entitled Opportunities for transforming coastal and marine tourism: towards Sustainability, Regeneration, and Resilience which was presented at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Croes is also the principal investigator of the Infectious Disease and Travel Health Project, which received $4,500,000 as part of the UCF Academic Excellence Funded Award.

Professor Croes served as the Director of the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies for 14 years, as the Associate Dean of the Rosen College for over six years, as the Tourism, Event and Attractions Department Chair, and the Hospitality Services Interim Chair.

His fields of interest include econometric applications in hospitality, tourism demand analysis/forecasting, tourism economic impact, competitive and sustainable tourism in development analyses, tourism development applied to poverty alleviation and human development, and tourism development in small islands and developing countries.

Dr. Croes has lectured and presented on these topics throughout the world, including Armenia, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Bonaire, Ecuador, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Grenada, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Bonaire, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, among others. His research has been presented in renowned industry and research conferences worldwide, including in Cyprus, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey. Dr. Croes has also consulted in numerous countries, including Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Grenada, Italy, and the United States.

Dr. Croes has a significant funding record and is recognized as the most prominent UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management faculty member for acquiring approximately $15 million in external grants, gifts, donations, and continued education programs. He has chaired numerous graduate students’ thesis and dissertation committees. Dr. Croes has worked as a principal investigator in developing multiple tourism master plans in small islands and developing countries and currently serves as the Tourism Strategist and Advisor in Bonaire.

He has published in world-renowned academic journals such as Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Economics, International Journal of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, and International Journal of Hospitality Management. He has also served on the editorial board of 12 academic journals. Dr. Croes is the recipient of numerous research awards (e.g., the 2015 Thea Sinclair Award, the 2015 UCF Research Incentive Award (RIA), 2015 Best Graduate Student Research Paper, amongst others).

Dr. Croes received his doctorate from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. His dissertation focused on quantitative modeling of tourism demand, tourism development, and government intervention. In his previous career, Dr. Robertico Croes was Minister of Economic Affairs, Tourism, and Finance in Aruba. He was a member of Aruba’s Parliament and the Director Department of Aruba Foreign Affairs. He has also served as the Chair of the Dutch-Aruban Cultural Commission and was the Vice President of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. He was Deputy Secretary-General of the Christian Democratic Organization for the Americas and a Member of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino). Dr. Croes has over 40 years of tourism, foreign affairs, and policy experience.