Global Tourism Futures: Destination Heritage or Destination Future?

Dear reader,

While many historic destinations in Europe continue to grow in popularity, they are forced to cope with overcrowding and all its associated negative social and environmental impacts. Consequently, these destinations mainly seem to focus on managing the influx of visitors, establishing visitor guidance systems, and trying to address the challenges of overtourism. In contrast, the emerging destinations in Asia and the Gulf region are developing entirely new attractions and construction projects from scratch with the ambition of incorporating critical issues related to the planet’s future from the outset. Tourism development in these regions often appears to be more closely connected to a broader vision of the future, challenging questions related to political and economic governance, and fostering a new perspective on the role of leisure and tourism in societies with a high interest in sustainability.

·         How can a holistic approach to sustainability be embedded into global tourism development and what can the different world regions learn from one another?

·         To what extent does global tourism address issues of social, ecological, and economic sustainability, or questions of inequality?

·         How can a balance between destination heritage and destination future be achieved?

·         What will global tourism look like?

These words above are the introduction of the Global Tourism Futures 2024 conference held by EURAC in Bolzano/Bozen with the support of COTRI and HERO on August 22 and 23, 2024. It offers presentations and panel discussions with academic and industry experts from Europe, the GCC region and Asia. Your humble editor is proud to be one of the co-chairs of the event taking place in the wonderful surroundings of the Dolomite mountains.

Many of the presentations at GTF 2024 will deal directly with the tourism development in Asia and especially China, including first of all the online keynote “Transformation of Hospitality and Tourism in View of Global Changes” by Kaye Chon, Dean and Chair Professor, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Three more speakers from the region will include Prof. Taylor Zhang, Fudan University, Shanghai, speaking about “Innovations in Heritage Utilization and Sustainable Development of Tourism Destinations: Cases from China”, Dr. Ali Said Akaak, Head of the Continuous Education and Community Service Department, Salalah University, Oman about “Authenticity in Tourism: the Example of Oman” and finally joining online Dr. Anu Kumari Lama, Tourism Specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICIMOD, Lalitpur/Nepal.

However, all other views and insights will also move the discussion about a holistic future of tourism and the contributions of Europe, the GCC region and Asia further.

The programme of the conference has been published: https://www.eurac.edu/en/institutes-centers/center-for-advanced-studies/research-group/trasformazione-e-sostenibilita/news-events/global-tourism-futures. Participation is free of charge, however, space is limited, so interested readers should register a.s.a.p., using the link provided in the website mentioned above.

The aim of GTF 2024 is not to organise yet another boring academic conference, but to create a real dialogue between leaders of the industry and opinion leaders within academia. Hope to meet many of our readers in Bolzano/Bozen!

In the next edition of COTRI Weekly Editorial we will introduce some more details about the conference and the background of the speakers, after that the COTRI Weekly Editorial will take a summer break for a few weeks.

As always, all best wishes from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt and the entire COTRI INTELLIGENCE team!