María del Carmen Morfin Herrera, academic director of the Tourism Department at Universidad de las Américas Puebla, and current President of the Pan-American Federation of Hotel, Gastronomy, and Tourism Schools attended the XXIX CONPEHT Meeting held in Dominican Republic, where she was also named distinguished guest by the government of Santo Domingo.
In the framework of the XXIX CONPEHT Meeting, the current president of the association had previously met with the honor council and the board of directors to discuss topics regarding the work she has been carrying out for a year. “We take advantage of the yearly assembly to meet three days before so the presidency may explain what has been done and under which regulations the activities have been carried out,” stated professor Morfin.
Regarding her experience leading CONPEHT, the UDLAP director of the Tourism Department said she felt happy with the work team because “they have adhered to this modification because the students and professors feel included; and now the main challenge next year will be to host the meeting. I think this will be done very well, as I see that each of the activity leaders and coordinators are very committed, and I think we will leave a mark,” she stated.
“We started the collaborative work in April, when we provided the most adequate guidelines for our strategic framework, defining CONPEHT on its 30th anniversary, which is in 2020. I am in charge of presenting the results of this work. We are all very committed to the federation, and there have been changes to the calls, such as the integral gastronomy contest, student research, the food style contest, and the new guidelines for the Turpade magazine,” added professor Morfín.
On the other hand, she expressed her satisfaction with the organization and development of the 2019 meeting because, with the coordination of the Pan-American Federation of Hotel, Gastronomy and Tourism Schools and the hosts in the Dominican Republic, there were over 600 participants from 22 countries, in spite of unexpected events that were out of their control. Professor Morfín says that it was a success because the “CONPEHT community is always willing to participate with discipline, professionalism, and ethics to create a different path.”
“On the last day I was pleased with the recognition we received from the government, when they named me a distinguished guest of Santo Domingo. The tourism minister and the meeting organizer gave me this award, and I am very honored to have it,” stated professor Morfín. Finally, Universidad de las Américas Puebla will be one of the hosts of the yearly meeting in 2020 and the first meeting will be on campus. “UDLAP will celebrate its 80th anniversary and CONPEHT its 30th anniversary, and we’re going to celebrate jointly. It is very important for me to have them here,” concluded the CONPEHT President.