Hannah Messerli's professional background includes serving as a faculty member at New York University, and operations consulting with hotel and tourism companies globally. She is based in Singapore, Australia, and Indonesia. Messerli has completed master's degrees in hotel administration at Cornell University and tourism planning at the George Washington University. Her doctorate in tourism planning and development was also completed at Cornell University. Her publications include "Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods" (2013). Abstract: Hannah Messerli is dedicated to utilizing tourism as an economic development tool for emerging economies. As a senior private sector development specialist in tourism in the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice of the World Bank, Messerli supports government initiatives to develop private sector capacity in tourism globally. With more than 15 years of experience in the public and private sectors focusing on tourism planning and development, she has worked in countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. As an analyst and tourism product development specialist, she has focused on cultural heritage and nature-based tourism policy and development in emerging economies.