About the Conference

Sustainable Tourism and Global Crisis

In a world with increasingly uncertainties, natural hazards and man-made catastrophes have caused varied scales of disasters to human beings. Having the nature of experience-based activities and an environment-human interrelationship, tourism is one of the most vulnerable industries and areas of development. Different forms of crisis would bring about economic and structural impact on tourism and all its participants, leading to the wider social impact far beyond tourism but a key concern for the international community. Having said that, tourism has proven in the past to be a reliable partner to lead recovery for societies and communities, but only if all the stakeholders in public and private sectors, and other relevant agencies could develop a strong sense of responsibility and collaboration.

According to the UNWTO, tourism is one of the hardest hit economic sectors by the COVID-19pandemic in terms of a decline in international tourist arrivals and risk of losing millions of direct tourism jobs. Nevertheless, tourism is an important area of economic activities that facilitate to mitigate the socio-economic impact of COVID-19. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the need to strengthen the resilience and the inclusiveness of the tourism sector through unity and cooperation among tourism stakeholders across local, regional, national and international levels. This global crisis is an opportunity to rethink how tourism interacts with our societies, other economic sectors and our natural and cultural resources and ecosystems, to measure and manage it better, ensuring a fair distribution of its benefits, to advance the transition towards a carbon-neutral, more resilient and inclusive tourism economy.

Tourism scholars and researchers are particularly indispensable in supplying knowledge that guides the response of the tourism sector to the COVID-19 crisis and to build the foundations for future resilience and sustainable development. In the academia, the commitment to work together towards a sustainable recovery of tourism should cover a wide range of research areas and topics:

In response to the above need for academic contributions to a stronger knowledge base of sustainable tourism development and global crises, a number of questions should be considered and addressed:

  • What are the potential challenges and opportunities in various forms of hazards, disasters and the resultant crises in tourism?
  • What can be studied to improve the perceptual and actual safety of visitors in terms of physical movement, environmental hazards and disease outbreak, etc.?
  • How to protect the health and fundamental rights of workers in the tourism industry, ensure observance of decent work standards and guarantee equal opportunities in recovery for all?
  • How does tourism embody and accelerate sustainability, and provide pragmatic and inclusive solutions to sustainable development?
  • How does sustainable tourism foster economic growth that ensures a fair distribution of multi-dimensional benefits among communities and stakeholders?
  • How does sustainable tourism eradicate the vulnerable groups, and safeguard the health and well-being of people after a crisis?
  • How does sustainable tourism make societies more equitable and inclusive, build collective knowledge among people, and empower communities to face any possible crisis in the future?
  • How does sustainable tourism engage more local and non-local participation to fortify sustainable consumption and production patterns, assist in environmental and resource protection, and ultimately battle climate change?
  • How does sustainable tourism promote global peace and understanding, and encourage engagement and collaborations among stakeholders
  • How does sustainable tourism make wise use of innovative and smart infrastructure and solutions to enhance risk reduction and preparedness for future crisis?
  • How can tourism policies, business operations and individual behaviours align with the values of the SDGs in a more inclusive and resilient perspective?

Sustainable Tourism and SDGs: Long-term Resolution

The 17 SDGs embrace a range of economic, social, cultural and environmental imperatives. The UNWTO has affirmed the role of tourism and its enormous potential to contribute to all of the SDGs in direct and indirect ways. In particular, emphasis is placed on Goals 8, 12, and 14, in which sustainable tourism is respectively recognized as a vital force in boosting inclusive economic growth and providing employment opportunities, promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns, and supporting the conservation and sustainable use of land and water resources.

Many of the SDGs are relevant to achieving sustainable tourism in one or another perspective, for example, economic and socio-cultural development (Goal 1 - no poverty; Goal 8 - decent work and economic growth, Goal 16 - peace and justice), equality (Goal 2 - zero hunger, Goal 4 - quality education, Goal 5 - gender equality, Goal 10 - reduced inequalities), quality of life (Goal 3 - good health and well-being), and environmental conservation (Goal 13 - climate action). More importantly, Goal17 calls for revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. This goal could represent an inclusivity of public and private sectors, tourists, and local people and communities to guide future development initiatives building on the previous United Nations 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, specific development proposals and opportunities related to the achievement of the SDGs.

Objectives

The upcoming conference in May 2021 seeks to address these questions and beyond. It offers a platform to tourism scholars, researchers, practitioners and students to interact and debate issues relating to sustainable tourism and its responses to crisis. The conference aims to promote the exchange of academic dialogues and support innovative research and practices in coping with the challenges of sustainable tourism in this critical time of our world.

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:

  • Engaging more local people and communities in tourism recovery and development
  • Ensuring sustainable resource management by tourism
  • Promoting well-being and quality of life by tourism for more people, especially the vulnerable groups
  • Advocating sustainable tourism education and training for professional and workers in tourism industry
  • Achieving gender equality, accessibility of people with disabilities, and empowerment of minorities in tourism development
  • Considering natural resources, species and biodiversity in land and water in tourism development, and the impacts of man-made disasters on the ecosystems
  • Promoting post-crisis sustainable economic growth in tourist destinations
  • Building resilience and innovation in tourism for both the industry level and the destination context
  • Reducing inequality and overdependence in tourism development
  • Reduce the risk and mitigate the impacts of various forms of hazards and disasters on destinations and communities
  • Reducing inequality and overdependence in tourism development
  • Improve the preparedness of tourism industry, destinations and communities
  • Integrating sustainable cities and tourism
  • Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns in tourism
  • Combating climate change and its impacts on sustainable tourism
  • Protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems in tourism development
  • Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for tourism development at all levels
  • Strengthening global partnership for sustainable tourism development, making capacities and rooms for post-crisis new initiatives

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

  • Community-based tourism
  • Cultural and heritage tourism
  • Dark tourism
  • Festival and event tourism
  • Film tourism
  • Food and culinary tourism
  • Medical, wellness and health tourism
  • MICE tourism
  • Nature-based tourism, ecotourism and geotourism
  • Pilgrimage and spiritual tourism
  • Pro-poor tourism
  • Research and education tourism
  • Responsible and ethical tourism
  • Rural and agro-tourism
  • Smart tourism
  • Special interest tourism
  • Sport tourism
  • Urban tourism
  • Visiting-friends-and-relative tourism
  • Volunteer tourism
  • Others

History

Since 2012, the Department of Geography and Resource Management (GRMD) andthe Master of Social Science in Sustainable Tourism (MSSST) programme of TheChinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have organized thematic internationalconferences on sustainable tourism annually. These conferences have attractedwell-known and reputable international tourism academics as keynote speakers,invited speakers and presenters to share knowledge and exchange ideas.Apart from researchers and practitioners, students from international, regionaland local institutes have also attended the conferences to widen theirscope of learning and to gain global perspectives on the development ofthe tourism industry. All participants have brought together novel ideas andempirical evidence surrounding issues of sustainable tourism.

2016

The 2016 International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and     Global-Local Understanding with 150 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof Alan LEW (Northern Arizona University, U.S.A.), 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, U.K.), and Prof Trevor SOFIELD (University of Tasmania, Australia).

2017

The 2017 International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Development with 120 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof Alan LEW (Northern Arizona University, U.S.A.), Prof Amran HAMZAH (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Prof Geoffrey WALL (University of Waterloo, Canada), Prof Honggang XU (Sun Yat-Sen 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).

2018

The 2018 International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Innovation with 100 participants. Keynote speakers included Dr Dora AGAPITO (University of Lincoln, U.K.), Prof Amran HAMZAH (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), and Prof Geoffrey WALL (University of Waterloo, Canada).

2019

The 2019 International Conference on Tourism and the Sustainable Development Goals with 100 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof T. C. CHANG (National University of Singapore), Dr Cristina Ortega NUERE (Open University of Catalonia, Spain; and World Leisure Organization), and Jarkko SAARINEN (University of Oulu, Finland).

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Department of Geography and Resource Management, CUHK Master of Social Science in Sustainable Tourism, GRMD, CUHK
Contact us at
MSSST@cuhk.edu.hk
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