In the first #AIRTHSpecial podcast episode we have Dr. Florian Zach, the co-founder of AIRTH and Assistant Professor from Virginia Tech University, USA, as our guest. The main topic was Florian's view on how tourism innovation is perceived and why academics and tourism practitioners should work together to make tomorrow's tourism better. Timestamp: Intro - 00:00 About the #AIRTHSpecial episode and Miha Bratec - 00:34 Who is dr. Florian Zach? - 03:57 The transition from practice to academia - 08:51 The origins of AIRTH  and how to stimulate communication between academics and practitioners? - 17:26 Academic research and Covid-19 - 28:12 How to bring tourism research into practice? - 38:54 Florian's view of tourism after Covid-19 - who will be the winners? - 46:29 Visit: http://www.airth.global/ https://htm.pamplin.vt.edu/directory/zach.html https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-zach/