Conference Aims and Scope

The development of mass tourism has posed threats and created problems that have affected destinations and local communities in virtually every corner of the world. To overcome the problems of mass tourism, many governments, businesses, communities, and tourism organisations have turned to alternative types of tourism development. One such alternative is ‘special interest tourism’. While this has become a centre of attention for the tourism industry, in academic and professional literature, there is still much that is not known or is not widely known.

Bearing these in mind, ICOT 2012 aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the issues posed by special interest tourism by covering state-of-the-art theoretical, practical and institutional work on special interest tourism. Through the dissemination of this work the conference seeks to inform future policy on the management of special interest tourism projects by stimulating discussion and the exchange of ideas between tourism professionals, academics, researchers, policy-makers, consultants, practitioners, government officials and postgraduate students from tourism-related fields.

ICOT 2012 will also give participants an opportunity to combine an effective conference experience with a holiday in Archanes, Crete, one of the most famous rural destinations in Crete.

Conference Themes

The conference will focus on a broad range of topics related to tourism, including (but not limited to):

• Theoretical Perspectives on Sustainability, Special Interest and Alternative forms of Tourism
• Tourism Development, Policy and Planning
• Case studies and applied research on various types and forms of tourism, such as agro-tourism, eco-tourism, cultural tourism, health tourism, sport tourism, space tourism etc.
• Facets of Religious Tourism
• Globalisation Effects
• Economic/Social/Environmental/Cultural Impact of Tourism
• Community Impact and Response
• Resiliency Planning
• Tourism Marketing and Management
• Information Technology in Tourism
• Negotiation in Tourism
• Tourism Mobilities
• Industry’s Role in Managing Growth
• Transportation and Tourism
• Authenticity and Commodification
• Tourism Education
• The Future of Tourism
• Climate Change and Natural Disasters
• The effects of Crime, Terrorism, Safety and Security

Abstract Submission Guidelines

Abstracts are invited for concurrent sessions and poster presentations. The abstract will be the sole criterion for reviewers to decide the acceptance (or not) of the paper or poster for presentation. Thus the abstract should clearly communicate the objective(s) of the work, the results and their significance, and the advancement over previous work. Time and effort spent constructing a clear, concise, and well-written abstract will maximize the chances of the paper being accepted. Original  and significant work is a prerequisite for paper acceptance.

Submitted abstracts should be between 250 and 350 words. Abstracts may only be submitted on-line

at http://www.iatour.net/icot2012/conference/submissions, no later than February 15^th 2012