tourism into the new decade: challenges and prospects

 

Following the success of the previous eight International Conferences on Tourism (ICOT) held in Greece, China, Cyprus, U.K., Italy and Thailand and the strong support by the international scholarly community, the 9th ICOT conference will be held at Braga, Porto, Portugal, 26-29 June 2019.

Travel and tourism are becoming increasingly important to the world economy. However, the many changes and challenges that the international travel and tourism movement faces today have resulted in many negative social, political and environmental repercussions that affect destinations and their populations in virtually every corner of the contemporary world. In dealing with the implications of the growth of tourism it is imperative to identify future trends and examine various responses with respect to the appropriate policies and management techniques.

Bearing all of these concerns in mind, this conference aims to add to the debate regarding balanced tourism growth including the concepts of overtourism and degrowth for both established and emerging destinations. The conference will stimulate discussion and exchange of ideas related to the conference theme and beyond, between tourism professionals, academics, researchers, policy-makers, consultants, practitioners, government officials and postgraduate students from tourism academia and related fields.