About | The 2018 International Conference on Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable Tourism and Innovation

The conference adopts the theme of “Sustainable Tourism and Innovation”, and follows the well-established series of conferences on sustainable tourism organized since 2012. Last year, our Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Development attracted a series of oral and poster presentations by tourism scholars, researchers and practitioners from various international and regional academic institutions. They brought together ideas and empirical evidence of how the academia is promoting better understanding of the ways in which the local impacts the global in tourism sustainability.

To foster discussions on advanced knowledge and tourism practices in coping with the challenges of sustainable tourism, “innovation” is the key for tourism development in response to the UNWTO’s five pillars of roadmap.

Relation to UNWTO

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has stressed the role of tourism in the context of the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to the UNWTO, the IYSTD has promoted changes in policies, business practices and consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable tourism sector that can contribute to all the 17 SDGs. After the recognition of the importance of sustainable tourism and the actions taken in the IYSTD, all stakeholders in the tourism sector have been mobilized to demonstrate greater awareness of the contribution of sustainable tourism to global development. They have supported changes in policies, business practices and consumer behaviour. It is also important to note that tourism is a catalyst for positive changes across countries.

The five pillars of sustainable tourism highlighted by the UNWTO correspond to at least three of the aims of the IYSTD that were emphasized in many different themes and presentation topics of our previous two conferences:
1. better understanding among peoples
2. greater awareness of the rich heritage of various civilizations
3. better appreciation of the inherent values of cultures

Five Pillars of UNWTO

Inclusive and sustainable economic growth

Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction

Resource efficiency, environmental protection & climate change

Cultural values, diversity and heritage

Mutual understanding, peace and security

“Innovation” is the key for tourism development

To foster discussions on advanced knowledge and tourism practices in coping with the challenges of sustainable tourism, “innovation” is the key for tourism development in response to the UNWTO’s five pillars of roadmap. A number of questions should be considered: How does innovation connect to the provision of a more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in different parts of the world? How do smarter societies promote social inclusiveness, stimulate employment and reduce poverty in both developed and developing regions? How does the tourism sector make use of new ideas and technological movements to increase resource efficiency, conserve the ecological and natural environment, and tackle problems related to climate change? How can cultural values, diversity and heritages be well protected through creative ways at tourist destinations? How does innovation improve tourism and foster mutual understanding between local communities and tourists? How can technological advancement in tourism represent peace and security?

Objectives

The upcoming conference in May 2018 will be student-focused. The conference aims to seek researches from and encourages participation and interaction among students, who are future leaders, scholars, researchers and practitioners in the tourism sector. Their capability and creativity are the sources of power for excellence, advancement and innovation. This conference will focus on two broad objectives:

To foster discussions on advanced and innovative knowledge and practices in coping with the challenges of sustainable tourism

To encourage students to take the lead to share knowledge, academic researches, effective practices and innovative policies that further extend the roadmap after the IYSTD

Conference Topics

The Conference Organizing Committee welcomes contributions to any topical areas in the field of tourism research,
and is particularly seeking contributions to the following areas:

Creativity, change and crisis management

Digital collections and virtual tourists

Emerging research methods, methodological changes in leisure and tourism research

Emerging technologies in leisure and tourism

Innovation in tourism education and e-learning

Innovative practices in leisure, recreation and tourism

Knowledge economy and smart destinations

Smart city for leisure

Smart leisure and recreation

Smart tourism

Social media, networking and ICTs for partnership and collaboration

The role of e-tourism, social media and technology in sustainable tourism

Tourism and ICTs

Online destination image and marketing

Place marketing, place branding and place making for tourism and beyond

Your presentations can be based on a range of tourism forms:

Community-based
tourism

Cultural and heritage tourism

Festival and event tourism

Film tourism

Medical, wellness and health tourism

MICE tourism

Nature-based
tourism, ecotourism and geotourism

Pilgrimage
and spiritual tourism

Responsible tourism and ethical tourism

Sport tourism

Urban tourism

Others

History

Since 2012, the Department of Geography and Resource Management (GRMD) of the CUHK and the Master of Social Science in Sustainable Tourism (MSSST) programme have organized thematic international conferences on sustainable tourism annually. These conferences have attracted well-known and reputable international tourism academics as keynote speakers, invited speakers and presenters for sharing and exchanging ideas. Apart from tourism researchers and practitioners, students from regional and local institutes have also attended the conferences to widen their scope of learning, and to gain global perspectives on the tourism industry.

2017

The International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Development was held in 2017 with 120 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof. Alan LEW (Northern Arizona University, USA), Prof. Amran HAMZAH (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Prof. Geoffrey WALL (University of Waterloo, Canada), Prof. Honggang XU (Sun Yet San University, China), Prof. Jaume GUIA (Universitat de Girona, Spain), Prof. Philip Feifan Xie (The Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China), and Prof. T.C. CHANG (National University of Singapore, Singapore).

2016

The International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Global-Local Understanding was held in 2016 with 150 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof. Alan LEW (Northern Arizona University, USA), Prof. Amran HAMZAH (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Prof. Geoffrey WALL (University of Waterloo, Canada), Prof. Jaume GUIA (Universitat de Girona, Spain), Prof. Richard BUTLER (The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK), and Prof. Trevor SOFIELD (University of Tasmania, Australia).

About the Conference