Sabah2013

View the DRAFT PROGRAM Here
(as of 12 April 2013 - subject to change)

AND - DRAFT Itinerary for the Conference Field Trip on 22 April 2013



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Who Should Attend
• Destination management organization (DMO) officials
• Educators, researchers and students from academic institutions of higher learning
• Environmental and tourism development researchers, consultants and NGO/civil society representatives
• Government and quasi-government agency officials, managers and planners
• Public and private sector planning and land management agency officials, managers and representatives
• Tourism, travel and hospitality industry executives, managers, planners and practitioners
• Others with an interest in coastal, island and tropical tourism issues

Program Overview and Key Due Dates

• February 28, 2013 : Abstract Due (see Abstracts)
  

• March 20, 2013: Early Registration Due (see Registration)
  

• March 21, 2013: Regular Registration Starts (see Registration)
  

• April 21, 2013 (Sun) : Arrival in Kota Kinabalu; Hotel checkin

• April 22-24 (Mon-Wed) : (tentative) keynote speeches, parallel paper and educational sessions; conference field trip; welcome banquet; Dive Tourism Day; Closing session
  

• April 25 (Thu) : Hotel checkout
  

Conference Special Events

• The conference includes a half-day technical field trip
  

• A conference banquet presenting the cultural diversity of Sabah and Sabahan hospitality is included  
  

• A special session on protecting coral reefs from fish bombing and other threats will be presented with WWF-Malaysia as a follow-up to the Regional Anti Fish Bombing Symposium held in Sabah in February 2012 <http://bit.ly/fishbombing>
  

Conference Topics and Themes

Conference-wide Topics
• Authenticity and heritage management
• Colonialism, sovereignty and governance
• Community based tourism development
• Destination marketing
• Environmental risks and natural disasters
• Host-Guest relations
• Indigenous populations and tourism
• Regional tourism and economic relationships
• Rural tourism and poverty alleviation
• Social and economic risks and dependencies
• Stakeholder cooperation in tourism development
• Sustainable tourism in sensitive environments
• Tourism impact studies
• Tourism planning and sustainable tourism
• Tourist consumer behavior
• Upscaling rural tourism products
• Volunteer and other active responsible tourisms

Coastal, Island and Tropical Tourism Conference Topics
• Coastal and island ecosystem change
• Coastal zone management
• Cruise tourism
• Ecotourism and sustainability certification programs
• Emerging coastal, island and tropical destinations
• Globalization and island tourism communities
• Island tropical images: marketing and realities
• New technology applications in coastal, island and tropical tourism
• Ocean climate change impacts and adaptations
• Resort development

Dive Tourism Expert Meeting Topics
• Balancing diver motivations with destination community needs
• Creating an environmentally sustainable dive industry
• Recreational scuba dive industry issues
• Scuba dive destination and resource management
• Scuba diving motivations and experiences
• Tourism industry roles in coral reef conservation

Tourism Outlook Conference Topics
• Competition and collaboration in tourism
• E-commerce and travel agency management
• Food service and food tourism
• Hospitality management and marketing
• Human resource management issues in tourism
• Human resources and training in tourism
• Implications of technology and media in tourism
• Interdisciplinary perspectives on tourism
• MICE development
• Tourism crisis management
• Transnational market analysis and forecasting