Special Session at the International Conference on Tourism (ICOT 2012)

Organised by
Dr. Nikolaos Boukas and Dr. Vassilios Ziakas
Center for Sustainable Management of Tourism, Sport & Events (CESMATSE)
European University Cyprus

Scope

The current socioeconomic changes on the global scale have impacts on many industries worldwide, among them tourism. In response, destinations endeavor to develop special forms of tourism with the aim to diversify their tourism product, acquire a competitive edge, and ultimately rejuvenate their tourism industries. With evident traces that the status quo needs to be changed in order for destinations to be competitive but also sustainable for their future development, emphasis needs to be given on matters regarding how efficiently and effectively special forms of tourism are developed and managed. However, in a time where niche forms of tourism seem to be the makeweight of the misruled mass tourism development of the last decades, the practices about how destinations are planned and projected are questioned in terms of their effectiveness and/or adverse impacts on the sustainable development of destinations. The special session “Niche Tourism as Sustainable Development Strategy?” that will be held as part of the International Conference on Tourism (ICOT 2012), Setting the Agenda for Special Interest Tourism: Past, Present and Future (23rd – 36th May, 2012), aims to examine how special forms of niche tourism could be sustainably developed and managed in an era of global changes, intensive competition and various types of crises (environmental, economic, political, social). The session will give the opportunity to academics, practitioners, policy makers, consultants, and researchers to discuss as well as exchange ideas and methodologies concerning the various types of niche tourism, their contribution to maximizing the tourism potential of destinations, and to the strategies applied for their long-term sustainable development and management.

Topics of Interest

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers that focus (but not limited to) on the following themes:

• Sustainable tourism development: competitiveness versus sustainability
• Sustainability as a tourism development strategy
• Best practices for special forms of tourism management
• Criticism on niche tourism forms
• Sustainable tourism in the global context: opportunities and challenges
• Sustainable management and destination capitals
• Tourism in a social, environmental and political context
• Niche tourism and destination authenticity
• Sport tourism as sustainable development strategy
• Event leveraging and sustainable development

Submission and Publication of Papers

Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be submitted electronically by March 31, 2012 to: Dr. Nikolaos Boukas ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and Dr. Vassilios Ziakas ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Papers presented at the special session will be considered for publication in a special issue of the International Journal of Tourism Policy. For further enquiries regarding conference fees, conference programme, recommended accommodation, maps/instructions, and registration forms, please visit the web address at http://www.iatour.net/icot2012/