DR. SOTIRIOS VARELAS

Assistant Professor at Tourism Studies Department
University of Piraeus

Dr. Varelas Sotirios is Assistant Professor at Tourism Studies Department – University of Piraeus with the academic field “Strategy of Hospitality Business and Tourism Organizations”. Holds a Ph.D degree in Business Administration from the Department of Business Administration – University of Piraeus at the field of Hospitality Strategic Management. He graduated from the Department of Statistics and Insurance Science of Piraeus University and also awarded his MBA-TQM from the Department of Business Administration at the same University.

He has 12 year working experience as scientific advisor on tourism organizations and used to be co-founder and manager of a start up business related to virtual tourism. At the past he used to be special advisor at the Ministry of Tourism, Greek National Tourism Organization and the Region of Peloponnese.

He has cooperated with many research centers such as the Regional Development Institute, the Laboratory of Policy Evaluation and Development Programs and the Research Center of the University of Piraeus. He also teaches in the Postgraduate Programs of Tourism Management and Business Administration of the University of Piraeus and in the Undergraduate Program in Tourism Management of the Hellenic Open University.

From 2010 he has taught at several academic and business organizations such as University of Piraeus, University of West Attica, University of Peloponnese, Neapolis University, ATEI Kalamata, Institute of SETE (INSETE), Hellenic Management Association (EEDE) and the Hellenic Airport School of War. He is responsible for students’ internships and academic advisor’s coordinator in the Department of Tourism Studies. Dr. Varelas used to be the founder and coordinator of the MBA in Tourism Program at Neapolis, coordinator the Centre for International Tourism Research (CITR).

He is President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Chapter of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT). His scientific works have been published in several international scientific journals and he is a member of the editorial team of several journals and conferences. He often writes articles and participates as a speaker on issues related to tourism and tourism businesses.