Xinran Lehto

Professor, White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Areas of Expertise

Tourism and hospitality experience design
Destination marketing and management
Tourism planning and sustainable product development
Interface between leisure/hospitality services and technology applications
Wellness and wellbeing
Culture factors in HTM

HHS Signature Research Area(s)

Developmental Health and Wellness
Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity
Sustainable Organizations and Thriving Communities

Biography

Xinran Lehto is a Professor in the White Lodging–J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) at Purdue University. She serves as Editor of the Journal of Destination Marketing & Management and is the founder and co-director of the Purdue Well-Being by Design Collaborative (The WEDE Collaborative).

Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Lehto was an assistant professor at Colorado State University. Before entering academia, she worked in the travel and tourism industry as a marketing executive. Her scholarship focuses on experience design, management, and marketing in hospitality and tourism, with an emphasis on how services and experiences can be intentionally designed to enhance consumer well-being. Her work examines the planning, design, and marketing of experience-based vacation offerings for diverse traveler segments.

Dr. Lehto is committed to translating research into practice. She shares her work through refereed journal publications, technical reports, invited talks, and media engagement, and she regularly collaborates with community and industry partners to evaluate and develop tourism and leisure programs and strategies. At the core of her work is the view that the well-being of travelers and host communities should be a foundational principle in tourism planning and marketing. She believes that well-being-centered design is both a social responsibility and a strategic advantage for destinations and hospitality businesses.

Education

PhD, 2000, Purdue University

Social Media Accounts

Current Courses

HTM231 - Hospitality and Tourism Marketing
HTM173 - Introduction to Tourism Management
HTM501 - Research Methodology in Hospitality and Tourism Management
HTM399 - Applications of Data Visualization for Marketing

Professional Affiliations

Co-Editor-In-Chief, Journal of Destination Marketing and Management
Immediate Past President, International Tourism Studies Association
Associate Editor, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research