The Conference
The Department of Geography and Resource Management (GRMD) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is hosting the 9th International Conference on Sustainable Tourism on 13-14 May, 2021. 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, innovation in tourism and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Bringing together brilliant minds across the globe, the conferences have successfully advanced academic conversations and facilitated collaborations among tourism researchers, practitioners and students.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the conference originally held in May 2020 cancelled, but this regular academic event will be organized again in May 2021 to recharge our momentum and reinforce the already established reunion of international, regional and local tourism academics including scholars, researchers, experts, practitioners and students. The Conference Organizing Committee has decided to respond to the recent global crisis and the trend of tourism industry recovery to give a more relevant and up-to-date theme of focus.
The 2021 conference adopts the theme of “Sustainable Tourism Development and Global Crises”. 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 SDGs that aim at confronting global sustainability challenges and acting for people, planet and prosperity. Based on this universal vision, sustainable tourism has been advocated and supported by the UN as a key driver for development in achieving these SDGs. Looking beyond the 2019 conference that addressed the relationship between tourism and these SDGs, as well as the recent strategic effort by World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to tackle the global crisis of tourism industry and sustainability caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2021 conference aims to articulate the critical position of sustainable tourism and explore its role and potential in contributing to face a world that is full of uncertainties, crises and disasters.
