AIEST was the first scientific organisation in tourism. Since its foundation the Association is engaged in applied, interdisciplinary and solution-oriented research. The membership of AIEST is not limited to academics. It is based on the partnership between senior academic members and leading scientifically interested expert members from tourism companies and organisations.

AIEST has adopted a new positioning strategy and implemented “AIEST Life”, a new working structure. This restructuration led also to a new form of the Association’s annual Conference. The thematic scope has been broadened to give researchers the possibility to present highly relevant research and to allow practitioners to provide an insight into innovative and successful business models and cases.

Start of a new conference cycle and thematic scope

AIEST is initiating a new conference cycle on “Advances in Tourism Research: Perspectives of Actors, Institutions and Systems”. Participants from different scientific disciplines and tourism related industries are invited to contribute to the following three major streams of discussions:

Actors behaviour, consisting of contributions focusing on behavioural issues of consumers, management, politicians, etc;

Institutional settings, consisting of contributions focusing on topics such as entrepreneurship and innovation, cooperation and strategic alliances, ITC and productivity led-growth, structural change in leading tourism relevant industries, etc;

Systemic perspective, consisting of contributions focusing on topics such as the analysis of the market forces, marketing management of destinations, tourism promotion and policies, management of tourism related resources, sustainable development in tourism, regulation and governance of places, etc.

Target groups

The Conference targets, according to the new strategy of AIEST, two major groups of participants:

Be nationals of GMS countries (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).

Academia, who are invited to present state-of-the-art research in one or more of the major streams of discussion and who are willing to contribute from their scientific perspective to build an interdisciplinary body of knowledge.

Practice, who is invited to provide latest trends, concepts and cases in the field of major streams of discussion and who may provide guidance with regard to prospective research questions. 

Organisation of the Conference

The programme of the Conference includes different formats:

Pre conference: Young Researchers Workshop with on Sunday (cf. to separate call);

Opening session: Dialogue of AIEST’s councils with represen¬tatives of the host country on “Global market and local production” on Monday morning; Conference:

Keynotes from academia and practice;

Academic paper sessions with a range of different papers and presentations;

Practitioner presentation sessions;

Technical excursions

Conclusions of the Conference which will be published in the Tourism Review.

Application:

The candidates are requested to send the Curriculum Vitae and one short paper (2 pages of A4 paper, detailing  the relevant experience and the reason of participanting in the conference) to aiestconference@mekonginstitute.org, and  kindly include "Application for AIEST Conference 2012 (GMS)" in the subject line. 

The selected applicants are requested to cover their own travel and accommodation during the conference, and AIEST will cover the registration fee (1200 EURO).

More information, please visit: www.aiestconference2012.com

Application closes on 30 April 2012

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.