A strategic conference of business executives and academic researchers in travel, tourism and hospitality will convene in New York City Thursday, March 7, to discuss how to reverse an industrywide slump worsened by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2001, the industry experienced the worst hotel performance in 33 years, a situation made even worse by the massive cutbacks in airline flights and staffing that followed the attacks.

"Terrorism and Tourism – A Retrospective and Prospective View" is sponsored by Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and will take place at the Palace Hotel, 455 Madison Ave., between 50th and 51st streets, starting at 3 p.m. It is open to the public and is free to the media. To register, see: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/corporations/conferences/ .

The focus of the conference will be strategic discussions on how the industry can reshape itself in the new post-Sept. 11 era. Some of the topics to be addressed include: Are hotels as vulnerable as airlines? How can the new risks be managed? And can properties be re-engineered without destroying value? In addition, faculty at Cornell's Hotel School will share the results of an extensive survey of hospitality managers on their response to the effects of the terrorist attacks, as well as comparative data on hotel occupancy and rates across the United States pre- and post-Sept. 11. Also on the agenda are the implications of terrorism on hotel safety and security, litigation and valuation of properties. The conference was developed as part of the Cornell Hotel School's mission to create and share new knowledge of relevance to the hospitality industry.

Among those joining the discussions will be Bjorn Hanson, partner-hospitality and leisure, PriceWaterhouseCoopers; Cecelia Fanelli, Rosenman & Colin LLP; Manny Papier, former deputy chief of staff to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Israel Perlov, president & CEO, Global Security International; Michael Silberstein, managing director, New York Palace Hotel; Simon Turner, principal, Hotel Capital Advisers; and Cornell Hotel School faculty members.