Our Team

Anna Barrera is a research scholar at the George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies, where she manages indigenous destination development projects with native communities and organizations. She has worked with tribes on local, regional and national tourism planning and capacity-building efforts including the co-management of NativeAmerica.travel for the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association and a destination strategy and public-private partnership development project for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Mexican Secretary of Tourism. Anna has extensive experience working with the private sector, including multinationals like Caesars Entertainment — where she works on sustainability strategy — and small tour operators, whom she helps with operations and visibility.

Anna earned a B.S. in sociology and communication studies from Northwestern University and a Master’s of Tourism Administration from the George Washington University School of Business, where she focused on sustainable destination management. Prior to tourism, she worked in institutional asset management for several years.

In addition to his position with the Rovira i Virgili University in Catalonia, Spain — where he serves as a full professor of regional geographical analysis and directs the doctoral program in tourism and leisure — Salvador Anton Clavé is a senior scholar with the International Institute of Tourism Studies, helping to advance research around urban planning and the sustainable tourism partnership with Cuba. His works concentrates on the evolution of tourism destinations, urban and regional tourism planning, the analysis of the globalization of leisure, the impact of information and communication technologies in tourism destinations and issues concerning tourism policies and local development.

During the academic year 2015-16, as a visiting research scholar at the George Washington University, Salvador conducted joint research with the International Institute of Tourism Studies and the Center of Real Estate and Urban Analysis on good urban planning and the impacts of walkability on urban tourism performance in destinations including Washington, D.C. 

Salvador served as director/dean of the Tourism and Leisure School/Faculty of Tourism and Geography at the Rovira I Virgili University between 2002 and 2014. Among his most relevant major publications are his books entitled The Global Theme Park Industry (CABI, 2007) Análisis Territorial del Turismo y Planificación de Destinos Turísticos (Tirant lo Blanch, 2011, co-authored with JF. Vera, F. López and M. Marchena), Geographies of Tourism: European Research Perspectives (Emerald, 2013, co-edited with J. Wilson) and Tourism Destination Evolution (Routledge, 2016, co-edited with P. Brouder, A. Gill and D. Ioannides).

After spending most of his career at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) planning, designing, and managing tourism investment and sector loan projects for the Latin America and the Caribbean, Juan Luna-Kelser continues to consult on sustainable tourism projects for bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, as well as NGOs and private clients.

As an adjunct professor and senior research scholar at the George Washington University School of Business and International Institute of Tourism Studies, Luna-Kelser has taught courses in tourism policy analysis and community-based tourism and provided training in destination management, product development, ecotourism, workforce development, and rural and community-based tourism. Juan is also an advisor, facilitator and co-instructor to the University School of Business International Consulting Practicum Study Abroad Summer Program, involving graduate students in a six-week hands-on tourism consulting assignment. He coordinates the on-site portion of the UNWTO Themis Foundation/GW course Tourism as a Path to International Cooperation and Sustainable Development, which trains university graduates and professionals in subject areas related to international cooperation and development through tourism.

Juan holds a master’s degree in Tourism Administration with a concentration in Sustainable Destination Management from the George Washington University, as well as a master’s in Political Science from Drew University. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of the Pacific. Juan is originally from Mexico City and is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.