International Conference “Changes and Perspectives of Tourism in a Reshaped World”

The International Conference “Changes and Perspectives of Tourism in a Reshaped World” is organised by the Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences (Vilnius, Lithuania).

The COVID-19 pandemic had an irreversible impact on the tourism sector. The pandemic was a period of transformations for all tourism sector, including tourism business enterprises, state tourism institutions and tourists themselves. In this Conference the attention is paid to the changes of tourism and perspectives of tourism in a reshaped World. The goal of this Conference is to evaluate the lessons of the COVID-19 and to reveal the new reality of tourism sector. Are the changes in tourism related to a return to normal or return to the past? The tourism sector introduced new technological and non-technological innovations during the pandemic. Has the pandemic accelerated the uptake of more sustainable and responsible tourism? Social, environmental, and technological factors should be analysed in the post-COVID-19 era. Is this reshaped World related to new opportunities for tourism, including such sustainable business development, adaptation of environmentally friendly innovations, and digitalization.

Various new challenges may threaten the social, economic, or environmental sustainability of tourism businesses (e.g the ongoing war in Ukraine shouldn’t be forgotten at the analysis of the tourism trends), as well as challenges to the health or security of the different world regions or the entire world.

Do we see the processes of re-shaped mindset and preferences of tourists. Is future of tourism related to sustainable, technologically advanced, and community-based tourism development?

What kind of new tourism models can ensure a rapid response to unforeseen events in future? New technological innovations and new business models let to develop new attractiveness criteria for the local tourism destinations. The Conference tackles such topics as the tourist motivation to behave differently, the speed of adaptation to the changing conditions and the innovative changes that appeared in the tourism and leisure management.

The aim of this Conference is to provide both empirical and analytical personal insights into the changing nature of tourism in society and to further the debate for both policy-makers and academics to consider these evolving challenges within the future development of tourism sector.

The Conference is organized in the frame of the research project ” Changes and prospects in the tourism sector following the COVID- 19 pandemic, ” which has received funding from European Regional Development Fund (project No 13.1.1-LMT-K-718-05-0009) under grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT). The project is funded as European Union’s measure in response to COVID-19 pandemic.