Researching Coastal and Resort Destination Management: Cultures and Histories of Tourism

[i]Conference Announcement and Call for Papers International Conference[/i] 19th – 20th October 2009 Girona, Catalonia, Spain [b]The deadline for the reception of abstracts is 31st of July 2009.[/b] If you wish to submit a paper proposal, please send a 300-word abstract with full address and institutional affiliation details as an electronic file to Dr. Philip Long [url=mailto:p.e.long@leedsmet.ac.uk]p.e.long@leedsmet.ac.uk[/url] Please find regularly updated information regarding this conference, registration procedures and (at a later stage) a full programme at http://www.udg.edu/jornades/EUTO2009/tabid/12969/Default.aspx 2009 marks the hundredth anniversary of the formal designation of the Costa Brava, a title and destination region that has become synonomous with the emergence and growth of ‘mass’ tourism over the past century. The region today faces many challenges including maintaining tourist markets against competing destinations alongside environmental concerns. This conference is therefore extremely timely in its aim of bringing together researchers who share interests in coastal and resort destination policy, planning and management in relation to culture(s) and histories of tourism. These research areas are also clearly relevant to professionals and policy makers in destination management and the conference will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to share leading edge ideas, innovations and critical thinking with the professional destination manager participants at the European Union of Tourist Officers (EUTO) Study Visit to Catalunya which coincides with the conference. There will also be opportunities for delegates to participate in parts of the EUTO programme. Conference Themes The conference welcomes proposals for papers that address the development of tourism in coastal regions and resorts. Proposals might, for example address: • Creative uses of cultural, historical and heritage resources for tourism in coastal settings • Cultural events and festivals as animators of coastal resorts • Transnational approaches to and conceptions of destination policy and planning in coastal contexts • Community participation in coastal resort development • Building sustainable partnerships and stakeholder relationships between tourism, culture and heritage in coastal destinations • Competitive (dis)advantage, new tourist markets and coastal destinations • New and emerging technologies in coastal destination representation and marketing • Coastal destination image and branding The conference organisers also welcome proposals for papers that address theoretical and applied issues and themes relating to destination management in the coastal contexts of Catalonia and the Costa Brava in particular: Such themes include: • Tourism and Catalan identity - tensions between the standard international offer and the marketing of the 'local' and regional or 'nation without a state' • Representing the Costa Brava: changing images over time, and the creation, marketing and modification of a 'brand' • Tourism and the Catalan language - problem or asset? • The labour force in Catalan tourism: Catalans and 'others' • Tourist markets to Catalunya and the (formal and informal) organisation of private and public space: e.g. hotels, beaches, squares • Issues surrounding second home ownership, property markets and ‘new’ resident communities in the Costa Brava