2nd TOURIST Conference in Bangkog

On 20^th and 21^st July 2020, the International Conference “Sustainable Tourism: Shaping a better future” took place at Ramada Plaza by Wyndham Bangkok Menam Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by the Faculty of Business Administration, Kasetsart University. The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates representing universities, regional institutions and tourist organisations from Asia, Europe and North America. The participants who were unable to travel to Thailand due to the COVID virus pandemic followed the conference online.

Following the Opening Speech by Dr. Chongrak WACHRINRAT President at Kasetsart University, the project coordinator presented the TOURIST project and the online TOURIST Network, as the main knowledge exchange platform on sustainable tourism and innovative financial management strategies in Southeast Asia and internationally.

The main aim of the conference was to provide a lively and informal venue where a variety of questions and ideas regarding sustainable tourism could be presented and discussed by academics and other professionals in an interdisciplinary and creative environment. The focus was on the current sustainable tourism theories and practices experienced by practitioners in different contexts implying the role of sustainable tourism in contributing to the development in social, economic, and environmental perspectives. 38 participants presented their contributions both physically and online at the conference.

The University of Alicante was represented by Dr. Oana M. Driha, Assist. Professor, Department of Applied Economics International Economy, Institute of Tourism Research who chaired the session on Sustainable tourism education, Economics of Sustainable tourism.

TOURIST Project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, aims at promoting sustainable tourism concepts and transfer knowledge on innovative financial management strategies to HEIs in SEA to benefit from tourism in a sustainable way in the future. It aims to enhance the university-business cooperation in the tourism industry to foster the concept of sustainable tourism, increase teaching quality and in the long-run to increase the employability of graduates due to an up-to-date education.