he Alliance of Guangzhou  International Sister-City Universities (GISU) is pleased co-organize this year’s “Creative Tourism: Regenerative Development and Destination Resilience” international conference. This conference brings together GISU members and the GISU Smart Cities and Tourism Symposium with the project CREATOUR Azores which involves the Observatory for Tourism of the Azores (OTA), the University of the Azores, and the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra.  This conference will be a hybrid program offered both in-person and online November 8 – 10, 2022 on São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal.

Many are the hurdles and dilemmas confronting the tourism industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the epicenter of a global upheaval which has exacerbated the already impending threats of the environment and climate crisis. As never before, this symposium comes at the time for a serious re-evaluation of the tourism sector, and for the redesign of previous models and practices that have proven to be detrimental to destination communities and local ecosystems, and to the revival of the industry in a post-pandemic world.

Among the most promising trends in the sector, culture-based creative tourism has garnered increasing support and enthusiasm as a pathway to regenerative development and destination resilience, two essential components of sustainable tourism and development. Inherently personalized and participative in practice, creative tourism is based on the personal contact of one-on-one and small-group experiences based on the culture of a place and its people. Focused in its dimension and emphasis, creative tourism offers visitors the opportunity to hone their creative instincts and tendencies, as they learn about to local culture through direct contact with artists, artisans, and cultural agents of the destination community. The result is a dynamic, interactive exchange that both incorporates and promotes regenerative, sustainable local development and destination resilience.

This international GISU Symposium was initially proposed by Professor Bedard from the University of Quebec at Montreal during GISU’s last annual meeting in November of 2021. Unanimously approved by members, this international event follows the highly successful and record-attended Digital Academy program, “Entrepreneurship in Creative Tourism: Insights for Post-pandemic Re-emergence” held on April 21, 2022. In addition to Professor Bedard, the Secretariat Office wishes to especially recognize Dr. Nancy Duxbury from the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra for leading this program and the presenting faculty who joined her from University of Quebec at Montreal, Western Sydney University, Guangzhou University, Durban University of Technology and the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”.

Proposals are invited for individual paper and project presentations, thematic panel presentations and workshops.