The International Conference on Tourism & Sustainable Development Goals

The Conference

The Department of Geography and Resource Management (GRMD) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is hosting the 8th International Conference on Sustainable Tourism on 16-17 May, 2019. This conference follows the well-established series of conferences on sustainable tourism held annually since 2012, supported by the Master of Social Science in Sustainable Tourism (MSSST) programme of GRMD, CUHK. The past conferences have centred around themes such as sustainable tourism development and practices, community and environmental resilience, global-local understanding, and innovation in tourism. Bringing together brilliant minds across the globe, the conferences have successfully advanced academic conversations and facilitated collaborations among tourism researchers, practitioners and students.

The 2019 conference adopts the theme of “Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals”. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development formulated by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015 has set out a bold framework that steers global development towards sustainability. The agenda has defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim at confronting global sustainability challenges and acting for people, planet and prosperity. Based on this universal vision, sustainable tourism has been asserted by the UN as a key driver for development in achieving these SDGs. Looking beyond the knowledge frontier, the 2019 conference seeks to articulate the critical position of sustainable tourism and explore its role and potential in contributing to all the SDGs.