About the Conference
The 2017 conference follows the theme of the 5th conference in 2016, which built “bridges between global thinking and local action” through the designation of the International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science, the International Social Science Council and the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. Last year, a series of oral and poster presentations by tourism scholars, researchers and practitioners from various international and regional academic institutions 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.
Find out more about the conference:
Relation to International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (IYSTD)
This year is a unique opportunity and milestone for sustainable tourism development. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has approved the adoption of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (IYSTD) to highlight “the importance of international tourism… in fostering better understanding among peoples everywhere, in leading to a greater awareness of the rich heritage of various civilizations and in bringing about a better appreciation of the inherent values of different cultures, thereby contributing to the strengthening of peace in the world”. What supports the decision is the recognition by global leaders at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that “well-designed and well-managed tourism” can contribute to the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, socio-cultural, and environmental.
Tourism contributes vigorously to at least three global goals for sustainable development:
-
Better understanding among peoples
-
Greater awareness of rich heritage
-
Better appreciation of the inherent values of cultures
Conference Topics
​The Conference Organizing Committee welcomes contributions to any topical areas in the field of tourism research, and is particularly seeking contributions on the following areas:
Nature conservation and environmental issues in tourism
Nature-based, ecotourism and geotourism
The role of culture, history and heritage in sustainable tourism
The role of rural environment in sustainable tourism
The role of communities in sustainable tourism
The role of public and private sectors in sustainable tourism
Public–private collaboration and cooperation for sustainability
The role of e-Tourism, social media and technology in sustainable tourism
Multi-dimensional impacts of tourism
Responsible tourism and ethics in tourism
Tourism and climate change
Globalization in tourism
Place marketing, place branding and place making for tourism and beyond
Sustainable tourism policy and planning
IYSTD's goals directly deal with issues on human being, which is the core aspect of sustainable tourism development. How does tourism foster a better understanding between local communities and tourists? How does tourism increase global awareness of both natural and cultural resources? How does tourism provide an equitable and valuable way of achieving mutual respect and appreciation between cultures, ethnic groups and generations?
In response to the designation of 2017 as IYSTD, this conference will focus on two broad objectives:
Objectives
Objective 1
To foster discussions on frontier knowledge and tourism practices in coping with challenges of sustainable tourism
Objective 2
To share knowledge, academic researches, effective practices and innovative policies that support the three-tier dimensions of sustainable tourism development
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 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 also attended the conferences to widen their scope of learning, and to gain global perspectives on the tourism industry.
In the past two years, we had successfully organized these conferences:
​
-
The International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Resilient Communities in 2015 with 120 participants. Keynote speakers included Prof. Amran HAMZAH (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia), Prof. Dieter MULLER (Umea University, Sweden), Prof. Jaume GUIA (Universitat de Girona, Spain), Prof. Richard BUTLER (The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK), Prof. T.C. CHANG (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Prof. Trevor SOFIELD (University of Tasmania, Australia), and Prof. Bihu WU (Peking University, China).
-
The International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Global-Local Understanding 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).
​
To celebrate the UN-declared International Year of Sustainable Tourism cum the 10th anniversary of the MSSST programme, we are organizing the International Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Development this year, hosted at the CUHK on 24-26 May, 2017.
