Tourist Experiences: Meanings, Motivations, Behaviors

As participation in tourism has continued to expand in scale and scope, the nature of tourist experiences has become increasingly diverse. New destinations, new attractions, new markets, and new forms of tourism have emerged, enabling tourists to experience new places, peoples, and activities. At the same time, tourism has become more deeply embedded as a socio-cultural phenomenon, more intimately related to wider social and cultural transformations and development in both generating and destination regions. As a consequence, the understanding of tourist experiences has become increasingly complex, challenging and, arguably, elusive.

The purpose of this international conference, therefore, is to provide a forum for exploring the diversity of behaviors, motivations, and meanings embraced by contemporary tourist experiences.

The conference will focus on three broad themes within the context of tourist experiences, namely: the social / anthropological meaning or significance of tourism (individual to societal); tourist demand and motivation; and the analysis of tourist behaviors.

The conference is hosted by the Department of Tourism & Leisure Management, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK and will be held from April 1 – 4, 2009. Keynote speaker for the conference will be Professor Chris Ryan, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

The conference fee is inclusive of three nights’ accommodation and meals; day attendance and student rates are also available. Please refer to the conference website http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/international-tourism-conference/index.htm for further details.