In March 2025, students from the Department of Engineering Science of Faculty of Innovation Engineering at the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Li Jingrui, Gao Jialu, Li Shoujiang, Wang Jiyang, and Zhang Linyue, formed the “Odyssey Navigators Team” and achieved remarkable success at the Tourism Forecasting Competition II. The team won the First Runner-up Prize in the Interval Forecasting track and the Second Runner-up Prize in the Point Forecasting track.
The Tourism Forecasting Competition II was co-organised by The Annals of Tourism Research which is a top-tier journal in tourism research, with an Impact Factor (IF) of 7.8 and an ABS (Association of Business Schools) rating of 4 stars, and The International Institute of Forecasters (IIF). The participants are from prestigious institutions worldwide, including the University of Surrey, Deakin University, MINES ParisTech, the University of Skövde, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, MUST, Sun Yat-sen University, the Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, and Beihang University, etc.. Under the joint guidance of Chair Professor Li Zhiwu and Professor Wang Jianzhou, the Odyssey Navigators Team demonstrated exceptional preparation and dedication, earning outstanding results in the rigorous multi-stage competition. The Team was invited by the organizing committee of the 45th International Symposium on Forecasting (ISF) to present their award-winning research at the conference in Beijing from June 29 to July 2, 2025. For over four decades, ISF has served as a premier global platform for forecasting innovation, attracting Nobel laureates and leading scholars to share cutting-edge methodologies and practical advancements. The Tourism Forecasting Competition is committed to driving breakthrough innovations in prediction technologies under crisis scenarios and translating academic achievements into practical applications, providing critical technical support for the global tourism industry’s recovery. As a benchmark platform in tourism economic forecasting research, its inaugural competition results were published in an SSCI-indexed journal and recognised as highly cited research. The award-winning research by the Odyssey Navigators Team has been selected for inclusion in a special issue of the journal dedicated to the competition.
Through this competition, the MUST team not only showcased their expertise in intelligent forecasting but also contributed to advancing global tourism economic recovery and sustainable growth.
