Education

Ph.D., Food Hygiene and Technology, Selcuk University (Konya, Turkey)
M.S., Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Central Florida
M.S., Food Hygiene and Technology, Selcuk University (Konya, Turkey)
B.S., Nutrition, Gazi University (Ankara, Turkey)

Background

Bendegul Okumus joined the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management as a professor in August 2025. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition, master’s and doctoral degrees in food hygiene and technology, and a second master’s degree in hospitality and tourism management. Her academic career spans five universities in three countries, and she is widely recognized for her expertise in food safety, culinary tourism, sustainability, food waste reduction, and health and wellness in hospitality and tourism.

Honors / Awards

• Listed in Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% of Most-Cited Scientists (2021-2024)
• Teaching Incentive Program Award, University of Central Florida (2023)
• Research Incentive Award, University of Central Florida (2022)
• Dean’s Scholar Research Award, University of Central Florida (2022)
• Best Conference Paper Award, Graduate Student Research Conference in Business and Economics (2017)

Research Interests

• Healthy eating behavior in hospitality and tourism
• Food and culinary tourism
• Food safety and hygiene in foodservice businesses
• Sustainability practices and food waste reduction
• Health, wellness, and well-being in hospitality and tourism

Teaching

• HTMT 340 – Nutrition

Professional Affiliations

• Senior Advisory Board Member, Association of Global Educators
• Board Member, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Central Florida Chapter
• Member, International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education (ICHRIE)
• Member, Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA)
• Member, World Food Travel Association

Books

Okumus, B., & Linton-Kelly, H. (2022). Wellness management in hospitality and tourism. Good Fellow Publishing. https://doi.org/10.23912/978-1-915097-24-8-5275

Staylos, N., Rahimi, R., Okumus, B., & Williams, S. (Eds.) (2021). Generation Z marketing and management in tourism and hospitality: The future of the industry. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70695-1

Book Chapters

Okumus, B. (2025). Regeneration in wellness tourism. in F. Fusté-Forné & A. Hussain (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Regenerative Tourism. Taylor and Francis.

Okumus, B., & Piao, Z (2025). Time to rethink sustainability in food tourism: Designing waste-free experiences in Destinations. In A. Kim, M. Kozak & G. Aktas (Eds.), International case studies in food tourism. Routledge.

Okumus, B. (2023). What’s in store for food & beverage tourism in the coming 10 years? In E. Wolf & F. Fusté-Forné (Eds.), Contemporary advances in food tourism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003282532-21

Gannon, M., Taheri, B., Okumus, B., & Giritlioglu, I. (2022). Sustainable luxury tourism and food waste management: A case study of luxury all-inclusive resorts. In W. Batat (Ed.), Responsible luxury marketing: Transformative research for well-being, social impact and innovation. Routledge.

Cetin, G., Okumus, B., & Alrawadieh, Z. (2019). Role of local gastronomy in destination marketing. In A. Correia, A. Fyall & M. Kozak (Eds.), Experiential consumption and marketing in tourism with a cross-cultural contextˆ(pp. 195-209). Goodfellows Publishing.

Giritlioglu, I., Ipar, S., & Okumus, B. (2018). Organizational structure. In K. Karamustafa (Ed.), Food and beverage management (pp. 297-338). Detay Publishing.

Publications

Her scholarly works can be found via Google Scholar.