Events
Conferences, workshops, and seminars from the Scholardemia research community.
Fri, Sep 25 · Time to be confirmed
Global hospitality's path to net positive: Bridging research and reality in sustainable regional development
Hospitality businesses increasingly describe sustainability as a journey towards net positive outcomes. Yet the meaning of net positive remains contested across regions, markets and forms of ownership. This webinar examines how research can clarify the concept, distinguish measurable improvement from broad aspiration, and connect environmental restoration with social value, decent work and durable local prosperity. Attention will turn to regional development, where hotels and tourism enterprises depend upon landscapes, infrastructure, labour and community consent. Participants will consider how evidence on carbon, water, biodiversity and circular resource use can be interpreted alongside questions of equity. The discussion will ask who defines a positive contribution, who receives the benefits and who carries the costs. The session will also explore the practical gap between academic models and operational decisions. It will consider how destinations can set credible baselines, select indicators and assess progress across supply chains. Rather than treating certification or reporting as an end point, the webinar will examine how governance, investment and transparent accountability can support meaningful change over time. Examples from varied regional contexts will frame a balanced discussion of ambition and feasibility. The webinar is designed for researchers, students, policy professionals and practitioners who want to understand how hospitality can move beyond harm reduction. Attendees will leave with a clearer set of questions for evaluating net positive claims and for shaping partnerships that respect local priorities. This perspective also supports comparison between destinations while recognising that environmental limits, social expectations and development needs differ significantly from place to place.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Oct 2 · Time to be confirmed
Beyond greenwashing: Aligning consumer ethics with corporate sustainability in hospitality marketing
Sustainability has become a prominent language of hospitality marketing, but confident claims do not always provide consumers with reliable grounds for choice. This webinar examines the relationship between ethical consumption, corporate responsibility and persuasive communication. It asks how businesses can explain environmental and social performance without simplifying uncertainty, overstating progress or shifting responsibility entirely onto individual guests. The discussion will consider why people express strong ethical intentions yet often make decisions based on price, convenience, habit and trust. Research on consumer behaviour can reveal this gap without portraying travellers as inconsistent or uninformed. Attention will be given to the ways labels, narratives, evidence and service design influence perceptions of credibility across different markets. A central theme is the distinction between effective sustainability communication and greenwashing. The session will explore the role of specific claims, comparable measures, independent scrutiny and honest acknowledgement of limitations. It will also consider how marketing teams can work with operational colleagues so that public messages reflect material changes rather than isolated campaigns or symbolic gestures. The webinar will be relevant to researchers, students, marketers, destination professionals and hospitality managers. It will offer a clear framework for examining who makes a claim, what evidence supports it and how an audience may interpret it. The aim is to encourage marketing that respects consumer agency while helping organisations communicate genuine progress with precision, proportion and accountability. It will also consider how correction processes and accessible public evidence can preserve trust when targets are missed or earlier claims prove inaccurate.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Oct 9 · Time to be confirmed
Climate-resilient tourism: From academic models to on-the-ground innovation in luxury eco-resorts
Tourism faces growing exposure to heat, water scarcity, storms, wildfire, coastal change and ecosystem decline. Luxury eco-resorts often operate in sensitive settings where these pressures are especially visible. This webinar examines how climate research can inform practical adaptation while preserving environmental integrity, guest safety, local livelihoods and the distinctive qualities that make a destination valuable. The session will introduce the principles behind climate risk assessment, scenario planning and resilience. It will ask how broad models can be translated into decisions about buildings, energy, water, food systems, biodiversity and emergency preparedness. Particular attention will be paid to uncertainty, since responsible planning must accommodate several plausible futures rather than depend on a single forecast. Innovation will be considered as both technical and social. Nature-based design, resource efficiency and monitoring can reduce vulnerability, but effective adaptation also relies on local knowledge, fair employment and trusted relationships with surrounding communities. The discussion will examine how high service expectations may create opportunities for experimentation while also increasing consumption and placing pressure on fragile environments. Researchers, students, designers, destination planners and hospitality practitioners will gain a structured way to connect evidence with action. The webinar will encourage critical assessment of who benefits from resilience investment and whether interventions transfer risk elsewhere. It will conclude by identifying questions that can guide credible adaptation, from the choice of climate baselines to the long-term stewardship of landscapes on which tourism depends. This approach treats resilience as a continuing capacity to learn, revise priorities and respond fairly as conditions change.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Oct 16 · Time to be confirmed
Cultural tourism at a crossroads: Authentic Indigenous experiences, commodification and critical dialogue
Cultural tourism can support the transmission of knowledge, create income and strengthen public recognition of Indigenous heritage. It can also extract stories, symbols and practices from the communities that hold them. This webinar examines the difficult boundary between meaningful cultural exchange and commodification, with authority, consent and community benefit placed at the centre of the discussion. The session will question the common assumption that authenticity is a fixed quality which outsiders can judge. Instead, it will explore how living cultures change, how communities choose what to share and how tourism markets shape visitor expectations. Participants will consider the difference between respectful interpretation and performances designed primarily to satisfy an external image of tradition. Governance is crucial. The webinar will examine ownership of cultural material, control over representation, fair payment and the right to withhold knowledge. It will also address how tourism organisations can build agreements that remain accountable after a product has launched. Careful attention will be given to the diversity of Indigenous communities and the need to avoid universal solutions or romantic stereotypes. The discussion is intended for researchers, students, destination professionals, cultural institutions and tourism practitioners. It will not offer a simple test for authenticity. Instead, it will provide questions for examining whose voice shapes an experience, how benefits are distributed and whether relationships are reciprocal. The aim is to support tourism practices that recognise Indigenous peoples as decision makers, knowledge holders and contemporary communities with enduring rights. Such practice begins with listening and continues through shared authority.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Oct 23 · Time to be confirmed
The smart tourism revolution: AI, e-tourism and the future of personalised travel experiences
Digital platforms increasingly shape how travellers imagine destinations, compare services and move through unfamiliar places. Artificial intelligence extends this influence by predicting preferences and adapting recommendations in real time. This webinar examines the development of smart tourism and asks what personalised travel may offer when data, connected infrastructure and automated decisions become embedded throughout the visitor journey. The discussion will explore how recommendation systems, conversational tools, sensors and digital destination services can improve relevance and accessibility. Personalisation may reduce search effort, identify suitable experiences and help manage busy places. Yet it can also narrow discovery, reproduce biased assumptions and direct attention towards options that serve platform interests rather than the needs of travellers or communities. The session will place technical possibilities within a wider social and institutional context. It will consider consent, privacy, explainability and unequal access to digital services. Participants will examine who controls tourism data, how value is distributed and what forms of oversight are needed when automated systems influence mobility, spending and encounters with place. Researchers, students, technologists, destination professionals and tourism practitioners will gain a critical framework for assessing smart services. The webinar will avoid treating innovation as either inevitable progress or an inherent threat. Instead, it will ask how systems can remain useful, accountable and open to human judgement. The goal is to identify design choices that support richer travel while respecting autonomy, diversity and local priorities. These principles can help digital innovation broaden possibility without quietly determining which journeys, places or perspectives remain visible.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Oct 30 · Time to be confirmed
Nudging for good: Can marketing science and responsible tour operations drive pro-environmental tourist behaviour?
Many travellers support environmental protection in principle, yet holidays are shaped by habits, limited attention and unfamiliar settings. Small features of choice architecture can influence what people do without removing options. This webinar examines whether behavioural nudges can encourage lower-impact decisions and how marketing science can be connected with responsible tour operations to produce credible environmental benefits. The session will consider familiar techniques such as defaults, timely prompts, social norms, feedback and clearer comparisons. It will ask when these approaches help travellers act on existing intentions and when they become manipulative. Evidence quality will be central, since a change that appears successful in a controlled trial may weaken, disappear or create unintended effects in a different setting. Operational context matters as much as message design. Guests cannot choose sustainable transport, food or activities when viable options are absent. The discussion will therefore explore how communications, itineraries, staff practice, procurement and infrastructure work together. It will also examine rebound effects, where savings in one area may encourage greater consumption elsewhere, and the risk of placing systemic responsibility onto individuals. Operational evidence must remain equally visible. Researchers, students, marketers and tourism practitioners will gain practical questions for evaluating interventions. Who benefits from the desired behaviour, how freely is the choice made and what outcome is actually measured? The webinar will argue for transparent, proportionate and testable approaches that respect visitor autonomy. Its broader aim is to connect behavioural insight with operational change rather than use persuasive language as a substitute for it.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Nov 6 · Time to be confirmed
Decarbonising travel: The future of sustainable transport and its impact on mass tourism
Mass tourism depends on affordable, reliable movement across long distances, yet transport produces a substantial share of its climate impact. This webinar examines how travel could be decarbonised while remaining socially and economically accessible. It considers aviation, rail, road and maritime transport as connected systems rather than isolated sectors with separate technological solutions. The session will review the roles of efficiency, electrification, alternative fuels, operational change and demand management. Each pathway involves limits, infrastructure requirements and difficult timescales. Participants will consider how claims about future technology should be assessed against present emissions, and why reductions in carbon intensity may not lower total emissions when the volume of travel continues to grow. Attention will also turn to the geography of transition. Destinations that depend on distant visitors may face different risks from places connected by rail or domestic markets. Pricing, taxation and investment can influence behaviour, but their effects vary by income and location. A fair transition must therefore consider workers, communities and travellers who have fewer alternatives. Researchers, students, policy professionals and tourism practitioners will gain a framework for comparing transport strategies across modes and timescales. The webinar will ask what sustainable mobility means for the scale, frequency and distribution of tourism. Rather than promising a single solution, it will examine combinations of technology, policy and planning that can deliver absolute emissions reductions while supporting valued forms of access, exchange and regional livelihood. It will also consider how better virtual access might complement, rather than automatically replace, necessary physical journeys.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Nov 13 · Time to be confirmed
Tech-enhanced hospitality: Balancing AI-driven efficiency with the human touch in luxury service
Luxury hospitality has long relied on attentive human service, detailed knowledge and a sense of personal recognition. Artificial intelligence can support these qualities by anticipating needs, coordinating operations and reducing routine work. This webinar examines where technology can enhance service and where automation may weaken the trust, discretion and genuine care that guests value. The session will explore applications across booking, guest communication, revenue management, housekeeping and service recovery. Faster decisions and consistent information may improve efficiency, but performance cannot be judged through speed alone. Participants will consider how systems interpret context, respond to unusual circumstances and affect the ability of staff to exercise professional judgement. Employment and data ethics will be central to the discussion. The webinar will ask whether automation enriches roles or intensifies monitoring and workload. It will also examine consent, privacy and security when personal preferences become lasting data profiles. Bias in prediction and unequal treatment require particular attention in settings where personalisation is presented as a mark of quality. Researchers, students, designers and hospitality practitioners will gain a balanced framework for deciding which tasks should be automated, supported or kept human. The aim is not to defend tradition against innovation. It is to identify forms of technology that give staff better information and more time for meaningful interaction. The session will conclude by considering how luxury service can remain responsive, inclusive and recognisably human in an increasingly automated environment. Clear responsibility for failures must remain visible even when several technical suppliers shape a service encounter.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Nov 20 · Time to be confirmed
The soul of tourism: Anthropological perspectives on cultivating true destination stewardship
Tourism is more than an economic activity. It brings visitors, residents, workers and places into relationships shaped by meaning, memory and power. This webinar uses anthropological perspectives to examine what destinations are, who belongs within them and how stewardship might protect the qualities that cannot be captured through visitor numbers or financial returns alone. The session will explore how rituals, everyday practices, stories and attachments give places social significance. It will consider the tourist gaze alongside the ways residents interpret tourism and negotiate change. Participants will be encouraged to question simplified distinctions between host and guest, authentic and staged, or local and global when contemporary destinations are connected through migration, media and commerce. Stewardship requires more than promotion or impact management. The webinar will ask how decisions can reflect diverse forms of knowledge and recognise obligations to future generations. Governance, participation and care will be examined as practical processes, including who sets priorities, whose evidence is valued and how disagreement is handled. Attention will also be given to the danger of romanticising communities or treating culture as static. Researchers, students, planners and tourism practitioners will gain a richer vocabulary for understanding destination relationships. The discussion will connect close observation with questions of policy and responsibility. Its aim is to show how anthropological insight can support decisions that respect lived experience, sustain cultural and ecological meaning, and treat stewardship as an ongoing collective practice rather than a slogan applied to place. Such stewardship remains attentive to both continuity and legitimate change.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Nov 27 · Time to be confirmed
Beyond satisfaction: How can tourism and hospitality genuinely enhance community quality of life?
Visitor satisfaction is a familiar measure of tourism performance, but a successful destination must also work for the people who live there. This webinar examines how tourism and hospitality affect community quality of life through employment, housing, public space, services, identity and the environment. It asks what should be measured when growth and positive reviews tell only part of the story. The session will introduce different understandings of wellbeing, including material security, health, belonging, opportunity and the ability to influence local decisions. Benefits and pressures are rarely shared evenly. Participants will consider how seasonality, insecure work, congestion and rising costs can sit alongside enterprise, cultural exchange and investment within the same destination. Measurement will be linked to governance. The webinar will explore resident surveys, distributional indicators, participatory research and qualitative evidence as ways to reveal experiences hidden by averages. It will ask how communities can help define desired outcomes before projects proceed, rather than being consulted only after impacts appear. Long-term monitoring and transparent responses are essential if participation is to have practical value. Researchers, students, policy professionals and tourism practitioners will gain a framework for placing community outcomes alongside visitor and business objectives. The discussion will avoid assuming that all residents share one view or that tourism alone can solve structural problems. Its purpose is to support better questions about value, trade-offs and accountability, helping destinations pursue forms of hospitality that strengthen everyday life without overlooking those who bear the greatest costs. Evaluation should therefore remain open to revision.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Dec 4 · Time to be confirmed
Destination marketing in the digital age: From academic theory to global campaign success
Destination marketing now operates within a crowded digital environment where places compete for attention, trust and meaningful engagement. This webinar examines how established marketing theory can inform contemporary campaigns without reducing destinations to interchangeable products. It considers the relationship between place identity, audience research, strategic positioning and the wider public interest. The discussion will explore how digital channels have altered the production and circulation of destination images. Search platforms, social media, mobile services and creator content can extend reach, yet they also distribute influence across many actors. Participants will consider how evidence, segmentation and careful message design can support coherent communication across this complex landscape. Particular attention will be given to the gap between campaign performance and destination outcomes. High engagement does not necessarily produce suitable visitor demand, community benefit or responsible behaviour. The webinar will therefore examine useful measures beyond clicks and impressions, including visitor fit, seasonal balance, resident sentiment, dispersal and longer term value. It will also address the ethical treatment of data and local representation. The session brings academic concepts into dialogue with practical campaign decisions. It asks how destination teams can translate research into creative briefs, channel choices and evaluation frameworks while retaining flexibility. Attendees will gain a structured basis for assessing digital strategy, challenging superficial success claims and connecting marketing activity with the social, cultural and environmental priorities of a place. The aim is not to prescribe one model, but to clarify the questions that make destination marketing more credible, locally accountable and demonstrably effective.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Dec 11 · Time to be confirmed
Persuasion in the digital realm: AI, chatbots and the ethics of influencing traveller choices online
Digital travel services increasingly use artificial intelligence and conversational systems to guide attention, frame alternatives and influence decisions. This webinar examines the persuasive role of chatbots, recommendation tools and automated interfaces across the traveller journey. It asks when helpful personalisation becomes manipulation, and how providers can recognise the boundary between service and undue influence. The session will introduce key ideas from persuasion research, behavioural science and technology ethics. Participants will consider how defaults, rankings, urgency cues and conversational language shape perceived choice. These techniques may reduce effort and improve relevance, but they can also conceal commercial priorities, reproduce bias or exploit moments of uncertainty. The discussion will distinguish legitimate assistance from practices that weaken informed consent. Attention will also be given to data, transparency and accountability. Effective personalisation often depends on extensive behavioural information, yet travellers may not understand how their profiles are constructed or used. The webinar will examine proportionate disclosure, explainable recommendations and meaningful routes for correction or human review. It will consider how inclusive design can reduce disadvantages for people with different languages, abilities and levels of digital confidence. Rather than treating ethics as a constraint added after development, the session presents it as part of service quality and institutional trust. Attendees will explore practical questions for design, governance and evaluation, including whose interests an automated system serves, which outcomes it optimises and how harms are detected. The webinar offers a clear framework for creating digital influence that remains useful, contestable and respectful of individual traveller autonomy.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Dec 18 · Time to be confirmed
Understanding the modern tourist: Psychological drivers, ethical marketing and managing destination impacts
Tourist behaviour is shaped by more than price, convenience or the appeal of individual attractions. Motives, emotions, identities, social norms and previous experience all influence how people imagine, select and interpret travel. This webinar examines these psychological drivers and considers what they mean for ethical marketing and the management of destination impacts. The session will explore how travellers seek novelty, belonging, restoration, status or personal development, often pursuing several aims at once. It will consider how expectations form through media, memories and social comparison, then affect satisfaction and conduct during a visit. Recognising this complexity can help practitioners move beyond simple demographic categories and develop more thoughtful accounts of demand. Marketing can respond to these insights responsibly or use them to intensify pressure. Participants will examine how messages frame desirable experiences, normalise particular behaviours and direct visitors towards specific places. The discussion will address truthful representation, vulnerable audiences and the risk that persuasive communication encourages crowding, cultural intrusion or environmentally damaging choices. It will also consider interventions that make lower impact behaviour easier and socially meaningful. The webinar links individual psychology with collective outcomes. It asks how research can inform visitor communication, experience design and management without assuming that every traveller behaves predictably. Attendees will gain a practical framework for interpreting motivation, testing behavioural assumptions and evaluating effects on residents, environments and local culture. By combining psychological insight with ethical judgement, the session aims to support marketing that respects traveller agency while contributing to better managed and more resilient destinations.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Jan 8, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Ecotourism in action: Balancing sustainable development, resident perceptions and conservation realities
Ecotourism is often presented as a practical route towards conservation, local prosperity and meaningful visitor experiences. Its outcomes, however, depend on how projects are designed, governed and evaluated. This webinar examines the tensions that arise when environmental objectives, development ambitions and resident priorities meet within living landscapes and working communities. The discussion will consider how tourism revenue may support protected areas, livelihoods and environmental education while also creating new pressures. Visitor growth can increase waste, disturbance, resource use and dependence on unstable markets. Conservation rules may protect ecosystems yet restrict customary access or distribute costs unevenly. Participants will explore why apparently successful projects can produce conflicting assessments among residents, businesses and conservation practitioners. Resident perceptions are central because support is influenced by fairness, voice and everyday experience rather than aggregate economic gains alone. The session will examine participation, benefit sharing and local knowledge as substantive elements of governance. It will also address the need to recognise disagreement within communities, avoiding the assumption that residents hold a single position or that consultation automatically creates consent. The webinar will connect these social questions with practical approaches to conservation management. Attendees will consider suitable indicators, visitor limits, adaptive planning and transparent reporting across economic, cultural and ecological dimensions. Case-based reasoning will be used to test claims and identify trade-offs without treating ecotourism as inherently beneficial or harmful. The aim is to provide a framework for assessing what works, for whom and under which conditions, supporting decisions that remain responsive to evidence and place.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Jan 15, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
The destination lifecycle revisited: Navigating overtourism and fostering sustainable growth in a post-pandemic world
The destination lifecycle remains a useful way to examine how places emerge, grow, mature and respond to changing demand. Yet contemporary destinations face conditions that complicate any orderly progression. This webinar revisits lifecycle thinking in relation to overtourism, uneven recovery, climate pressures and altered expectations following the global disruption of travel. Participants will consider how growth can create employment, investment and cultural exchange while placing strain on housing, infrastructure, public space and ecosystems. Overtourism is not simply a matter of visitor numbers. Its causes and effects vary by season, neighbourhood, behaviour, governance capacity and the distribution of benefits. The session will therefore explore how evidence can distinguish temporary congestion from deeper structural imbalance. The discussion will also examine renewal and decline. Destinations may attempt to diversify markets, extend seasons, redirect flows or reposition their identity, but such measures can transfer pressure rather than resolve it. Effective strategy requires attention to resident priorities, business adaptation and environmental limits. It also requires institutions that can revise decisions as conditions change instead of pursuing growth targets by habit. By connecting lifecycle concepts with current management challenges, the webinar offers a framework for evaluating development choices over time. Attendees will consider indicators of pressure, acceptable change and community wellbeing alongside conventional measures of demand. The session asks what sustainable growth should mean where further volume is neither possible nor desirable. It aims to support strategies that are locally legitimate and capable of guiding destinations through uncertainty without promising a simple return to previous patterns.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Jan 22, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Forecasting the future of travel: Economic models, policy impacts and navigating global uncertainties
Travel forecasting influences investment, transport capacity, destination planning and public policy. Yet predictions are increasingly tested by climate disruption, geopolitical tension, changing consumer expectations and rapid technological development. This webinar examines how economic models can support better decisions when historical patterns no longer provide a reliable guide. It introduces forecasting as a disciplined process of reasoning under uncertainty, rather than a promise of precision. Attention will be given to demand modelling, scenario planning, sensitivity analysis and the interpretation of leading indicators. The discussion will consider how data quality, model assumptions and time horizons shape results. It will also explore why apparently robust forecasts can fail when sudden shocks, structural changes or policy interventions alter the relationships on which projections depend. The session connects analytical methods with practical questions facing governments, destinations and tourism businesses. How should planners evaluate competing forecasts? Which risks deserve explicit treatment? How can policymakers distinguish short-lived volatility from longer-term change? Participants will consider how evidence can inform choices about infrastructure, workforce needs, taxation, environmental limits and market development without concealing uncertainty. Ultimately, responsible forecasting requires transparency, intellectual humility and regular revision. The webinar will outline ways to communicate ranges, assumptions and alternative scenarios clearly to decision makers and affected communities. It will encourage a shift from single-point predictions towards adaptive strategies that remain useful across several plausible futures. The aim is to strengthen preparedness while recognising that economic modelling supports judgement, but cannot replace it. Used well, forecasts become tools for learning, coordination and timely action.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Jan 29, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Planning for resilient destinations: Integrating cultural heritage, rural tourism and community-led strategies
Destinations face overlapping pressures from climate change, demographic shifts, economic volatility and uneven development. Resilience is therefore more than recovery after a crisis. It concerns the capacity of places and communities to anticipate change, protect valued assets and adapt without losing their social or cultural foundations. This webinar explores how destination planning can connect cultural heritage, rural livelihoods and community leadership within a coherent long-term strategy. The discussion will examine heritage as a living resource rather than a static attraction. Historic landscapes, local knowledge, crafts, foodways and shared memories can support identity and economic opportunity, yet tourism may also strain them. Participants will consider how planning frameworks can balance visitor access with conservation, local use and the rights of communities to shape how their heritage is represented. Rural settings bring particular opportunities and constraints. Tourism may diversify income, sustain services and encourage enterprise, but weak infrastructure, seasonal demand and external ownership can limit local benefit. The webinar will address collaborative governance, capacity building and locally appropriate indicators. It will ask who defines resilience, who bears adaptation costs and whose knowledge informs decisions. Practical attention will be given to mapping vulnerabilities, developing scenarios and coordinating public, private and civic action. The session will show how community-led approaches can strengthen legitimacy and reveal priorities that conventional economic measures overlook. Its central argument is that resilient destinations are not created by a single intervention. They emerge through patient relationships, accountable institutions and planning that values continuity alongside change across generations, sectors and institutions.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Feb 5, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Heritage on the frontline: Community-based tourism, cultural preservation and the geopolitics of sacred sites
Sacred sites and culturally significant landscapes often stand at the intersection of identity, memory, faith, political authority and visitor interest. Tourism can provide income and recognition, but it can also intensify disputes over ownership, access and representation. This webinar examines how community-based tourism can contribute to cultural preservation while responding to the geopolitical pressures that shape heritage on the frontline. The session will consider heritage not as a neutral collection of objects, but as a field of relationships and contested meanings. Decisions about interpretation, conservation and promotion may privilege official narratives over lived experience. Participants will explore how local communities can exercise meaningful authority in tourism planning, including control over storytelling, visitor conduct, commercial activity and the circulation of culturally sensitive knowledge. Attention will also be given to borders, displacement, conflict, religious difference and competing claims to place. These forces affect which sites receive protection, who may enter them and whose histories become visible. The discussion will examine how tourism practitioners can avoid deepening existing inequalities or treating cultural tension as spectacle, while still enabling respectful learning and exchange. Practical themes include community consent, benefit sharing, visitor education, safeguarding protocols and partnerships with public bodies. The webinar will ask how success should be assessed when economic growth is not the primary objective. It will argue for approaches grounded in dignity, reciprocity and local definitions of value. By connecting heritage practice with political context, the session offers a critical framework for tourism that protects cultural continuity and supports communities facing change.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Feb 12, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
The economics of well-being: Crafting tourism policies that benefit destinations, residents and the bottom line
Tourism policy is often judged through arrivals, expenditure, employment and business growth. These measures are important, but they provide only a partial account of value. This webinar considers how economic analysis can incorporate resident wellbeing, environmental quality, social inclusion and the distribution of costs and benefits. It asks what changes when destinations treat human flourishing as a central policy outcome. The discussion will examine established and emerging approaches to valuation. Topics include cost-benefit analysis, distributional effects, quality-adjusted indicators and measures of subjective wellbeing. Participants will consider what such tools reveal, what they leave unmeasured and how choices about evidence influence public priorities. Particular attention will be given to trade-offs between short-term revenues and longer-term community resilience. Policy design also raises questions of scale and accountability. A strategy that improves national income may still disadvantage particular neighbourhoods, workers or ecosystems. The session will explore taxation, visitor management, infrastructure investment and business incentives through this distributive lens. It will ask how affected residents can participate meaningfully in defining objectives and evaluating results. The webinar will present wellbeing economics as a complement to commercial discipline, not a rejection of it. Sustainable enterprises need viable returns, while destinations need healthy communities and functioning environments. Better policy connects these interests through transparent goals, suitable indicators and regular review. Participants will leave with a framework for assessing whether tourism creates durable shared value, who receives that value and which hidden costs require action. This approach makes economic choices more explicit, contestable and responsive to local priorities.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Feb 19, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
The certification conundrum: Making responsible tourism marketing and sustainability standards truly effective
Tourism certifications promise to distinguish responsible practice from vague claims, yet their growing number can confuse travellers, businesses and destinations. Standards vary in scope, evidence and enforcement, while labels may communicate more confidence than underlying assessments justify. This webinar examines how certification and responsible marketing can work together to produce credible improvement rather than another layer of promotional language. The discussion will consider the architecture of effective standards. Topics include measurable criteria, independent verification, audit quality, transparency and procedures for complaints or corrective action. Participants will explore how schemes address environmental performance, labour conditions, community benefit and governance. They will also examine the costs of participation and the risk that smaller enterprises are excluded despite strong local practice. Marketing creates a second challenge. Even rigorous certification can be weakened by selective disclosure, ambiguous imagery or claims that exaggerate limited achievements. The session will assess how marketers can explain scope, evidence and progress without overwhelming audiences. It will consider the responsibilities of certifiers, accredited businesses, booking platforms and destination bodies in preventing misleading communication. Finally, the webinar will ask what effectiveness should mean. A successful scheme must support measurable change, build trust and remain responsive as evidence and expectations develop. Participants will consider comparability, continuous improvement and the role of regulation alongside voluntary standards. The session offers a practical framework for evaluating certifications and communicating them honestly, with emphasis on outcomes, accessibility and accountability across the tourism system. It seeks to turn labels from static badges into instruments for sustained transformation.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Feb 26, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Flying towards a greener future: The science, policy and practice of decarbonising aviation in tourism
Aviation enables international tourism, family connection and economic exchange, yet it remains difficult to reconcile with rapid emissions reduction. Efficiency gains alone are unlikely to resolve the growth of demand and the persistence of fossil fuel use. This webinar examines the science, policy and operational choices involved in decarbonising flight, while recognising the distinct responsibilities of travellers, businesses and governments. The session will explain how aviation affects climate through carbon dioxide and other high-altitude effects. It will assess the potential and limitations of newer aircraft, operational efficiency, sustainable aviation fuels, electric systems and hydrogen. Participants will consider technological readiness, energy requirements, lifecycle emissions and the time needed to replace fleets and infrastructure. Policy questions are equally important. Carbon pricing, fuel standards, public investment, demand management and international coordination can shape the pace and fairness of transition. The discussion will ask how tourism strategies should account for aviation emissions and connectivity, especially where communities depend heavily on long-distance access. It will also consider who carries the financial and social costs of change. The webinar will distinguish credible pathways from distant promises. It will examine how organisations can set transparent targets, report progress and avoid relying on uncertain future solutions. Participants will gain a framework for evaluating claims and comparing interventions across different routes and markets. The aim is to support informed decisions that preserve valuable mobility while placing aviation within scientifically grounded climate limits. Progress depends on combining immediate operational measures with investment, regulation and honest discussion of unavoidable residual impacts.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Mar 5, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
The emotional core of travel: Connecting psychology, inclusive marketing and socially responsible tourism
Travel decisions are shaped not only by functional needs, but also by anticipation, attachment, memory and the desire to belong. Emotions influence how people choose destinations, interpret encounters and describe experiences afterwards. This webinar explores the psychological foundations of travel and asks how marketing can acknowledge emotional life without exploiting vulnerability or narrowing the people represented. The session will consider affect, identity, empathy and social connection across the visitor journey. Participants will examine how imagery, narrative and service interactions create expectations and emotional responses. They will also discuss how culture, disability, age, gender and economic circumstances influence experiences, while resisting simplistic assumptions about any group. Inclusive marketing requires more than adding diverse faces to promotional material. It depends on accessible information, meaningful representation and services designed for different needs. The webinar will explore how research can identify barriers, test communication and include communities in decisions. It will consider the ethical risks of stereotyping, tokenism and personalised persuasion based on sensitive data. Social responsibility connects these questions with wider destination effects. Campaigns can shape who feels welcome, which places receive attention and what behaviour appears normal. Participants will consider how emotional engagement might encourage care, respect and reciprocal relationships rather than consumption alone. The session offers a framework for designing communications that are psychologically informed, inclusive in practice and accountable for their social consequences. Such an approach treats emotional insight as a basis for better relationships, not merely a technique for increasing attention, conversion or short-term commercial value across visitor markets.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Mar 12, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
Tourism disrupted: Future scenarios, design thinking and innovating for a climate-changed world
Tourism operates within a period of accelerating environmental, technological and social change. Climate disruption, resource constraints, demographic shifts and new forms of mobility challenge assumptions that once guided destination development. This webinar examines how future scenarios and design thinking can help organisations move beyond reactive planning and create responsible responses to conditions that cannot be predicted with confidence. The session will introduce scenario building as a way to explore several plausible futures rather than selecting one forecast. Participants will consider drivers of change, critical uncertainties and the connections between global forces and local experience. They will learn how contrasting scenarios can expose hidden assumptions, reveal vulnerabilities and test whether current strategies remain useful under different conditions. Design thinking adds a practical method for translating foresight into action. Careful observation, inclusive participation, problem framing, prototyping and iteration can turn broad challenges into testable interventions. The discussion will examine how these methods can involve residents, workers and visitors while recognising unequal power. It will also address the danger of treating innovation as inherently beneficial or detached from environmental limits. The webinar brings foresight and design together as complementary disciplines. Participants will explore how to build experiments, evaluate unintended effects and retain options as evidence changes. Particular attention will be given to climate adaptation, low-carbon services and the redesign of visitor experiences. The aim is to cultivate innovation that is imaginative yet grounded, enabling tourism systems to learn, adapt and contribute to more liveable futures. Foresight becomes continuous practice, not an occasional exercise.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar
Fri, Mar 19, 2027 · Time to be confirmed
The future of movement: Reimagining tourism mobilities, transport logistics and urban design in a connected world
Tourism depends on movement, but movement is never simply the transfer of people between points. Transport systems shape access, time, behaviour, environmental pressure and the everyday life of places. This webinar examines tourism mobilities as a connected field linking passenger journeys, logistics, digital information and urban design. It asks how movement can become more efficient, inclusive and compatible with liveable destinations. The discussion will follow a journey across its full chain, from planning and arrival to local circulation and departure. Participants will consider how airports, rail, roads, ports, luggage systems and last-mile services interact. Poor coordination can create congestion and exclusion, while integrated information, ticketing and scheduling can make lower-impact choices more practical. Urban form strongly influences these outcomes. Street design, public transport, walking routes, accessibility and the location of attractions determine how visitors and residents share space. The webinar will explore ways to manage flows without treating cities as machines or displacing pressure into less protected neighbourhoods. It will also consider the needs of workers and goods movements that tourism planning often overlooks. Connected technologies offer useful tools, including real-time guidance, demand analysis and adaptive operations. They also raise questions about surveillance, data access and dependence on private platforms. Participants will examine how transport policy, service design and spatial planning can be coordinated around public goals. The session provides a framework for evaluating mobility systems through efficiency, equity, resilience and environmental performance rather than speed alone. This perspective links journeys with broader conditions required for cities to function well.
Zoom link to be confirmed
Free · Webinar