The International Conference on Tourism (ICTR 2018) is an opportunity for academics, practitioners and consultants from around the world who are involved in the study, management and development of tourism and hospitality related issues in practice, the public sector and in education to come together and exchange ideas. There are several strong strands of research and interest that are developing in the area including sustainability, the challenges facing global tourism and emerging markets, to mention only a few. This year the conference host, JAMK University of applied sciences is involved with several business ecosystem representatives around Lake Päijänne in Finland, which is a candidate for Unesco’s Biosphere reserve. Therefore Nature tourism as well as Cultural tourism is of particular interest this year. Customer oriented tourism services is another area of particular interest, where the customer co-creates services together with service providers. When the customer switches to being a service provider, it is referred to as a Sharing economy and this is arguably the newest topic in Tourism research. Although as a phenomena it is really changing tourism industry, we are not seeing this so much yet in Finland! The timing of ICTR 2018 is right to encourage a call for multidisciplinary research to be showcased in Jyväskylä. Key Topics Sustainable tourism Specialist tourism (Nature, Cultural, Sport etc.) Eco-Tourism Public private partnerships in tourism management Customer Oriented tourism services The sharing economy in the tourism industry Emerging markets and new destinations. Education for tourism and hospitality Marketing in tourism and hospitality Innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism IT in tourism |