The Mini Tracks for ICTR
- Emerging ICT Trends In e-Tourism
- Reducing Carbon Footprints in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
- Active Life and Well-Being Tourism
- Tourism & Hospitality ICT
- Sustainable Tourism and the Circular Economy
Emerging ICT Trends In e-Tourism
Mini Track Chair: Prof. Dr. Carlos Rompante da Cunha, UNIAG & CeDRI, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal
ICTR 2023 Mini Track on Emerging ICT Trends In e-Tourism
Technology has revolutionized the tourism sector. In particular, the Internet has revolutionized the way consumers and service providers interact. Transversal digitization across society has made consumers increasingly demanding and suppliers more knowledgeable. For tourism, this is reflected in the extraordinary way technology supports the before, during and after aspects of a visit. Today, we have growing opportunities for various technologies to be applied to tourism, which is increasingly referred to as e-tourism. The Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence (in partnership with Robotics) and Big Data, among others, continue to transform and offer new and exciting opportunities to design processes and products capable of generating greater consumer satisfaction and greater tangible and intangible organizational returns.
The objective of this mini-track is to bring together the emerging technologies that are being applied in the e-tourism sector and examine the way they have and will continue to be capable of innovating the design of new services, new products and new approaches. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- e-Tourism: Theories, methods and studies
- Physical, digital or hybrid tourism
- VR, AR and MR developments in tourism destinations
- Current trends in ICT in tourism experiences
- Big data analytics in the tourism industry
- IoT, AI and Ubiquitous Computing in Tourism
Reducing Carbon Footprints in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Mini Track Chair: Dr. Rekha Maitra, DAV Centenary College, Faridabad, India
ICTR 2023 Mini Track on Reducing Carbon Footprints in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Carbon footprint term has been devised in the past two decades, (a carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent), but there is a poor awareness level of stakeholders results in the utilization of more resources. Researchers are creating awareness regarding responsible tourism practices for better managing natural resources.
There is a need to implement comprehensive guidelines to tackle the rising carbon footprint with strict compliance. Carbon footprint is a widely used measure of an organization’s contribution to climate change. Despite several international guidelines, there is no consistent and widely agreed-upon methodology for assessment. The tourism industry needs to adopt responsible practices for managing natural resources which are manipulated to develop accommodation and recreation facilities. Therefore, Tourism needs to overcome the obstacles of deforestation, consumption of land in hilly areas, melting glaciers and other concerns.
The mini-track in the conference provides a comprehensive forum for exchanging novel research ideas or empirical practices that can reduce carbon footprint. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Green solutions to reducing carbon emissions in the Hospitality Industry.
- Sensitization of professionals regarding environmental concerns.
- Assessing the carbon emissions of accommodation services
- Net zero hotels and homes.
- Greener concept of homestays
- Enhancement of sustainability measures to enhance efficacy.
Active Life and Well-Being Tourism
Mini Track Chair: Dr Fernanda A. Ferreira, UNIAG, School of Hospitality and Tourism, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal; Dr Alcina Nunes, UNIAG, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Portugal
ICTR 2023 Mini Track on Active Life and Well-Being Tourism
Now, more than ever, we are aware of the importance of ensuring we are living healthy lives. For many this is gained by spending leisure time in a way which helps to promote well-being and healthy people in healthy places. In this way there is a growing industry of touristic locations and events which bring people to experience aspects of a healthy lifestyle.
This mini track aims to bring together leading academics, researchers, and scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Active life strategies linked to nature tourism, cultural tourism, sports tourism, well-being tourism and quality of life, among others. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Health and Well-being
- Thermalism
- Nature tourism
- Slow tourism
- Rural tourism
- Ecotourism
- Endogenous resources
Tourism & Hospitality ICT
Mini Track Chair: Dr Cândida Silva, PhD, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal
ICTR 2023 Mini Track on Tourism & Hospitality ICT
Information communication technology (ICT) has been transforming Tourism and Hospitality globally. This track focuses on recent trends in using ICT to develop more agile and sustainable processes in Tourism and Hospitality business, offering an efficient management, supporting decision making and creating value for both customers and suppliers. Moreover, the track will also be an open to analyse subjects related with innovation in teaching and learning process in Tourism and Hospitality courses, and tourist behaviour and its relationship with ICT, namely on using technology to discover, plan and share their travel experiences and how this is changing the tourist industry.
Therefore, contributors are invited to submit original research papers addressing relevant aspects of sustainable and quality development of Tourism and Hospitality ICT. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- ICT to support Sustainable Tourism & Hospitality
- m-Tourism and e-Tourism
- Gamification in Tourism & Hospitality
- Building an online reputation and use of social media
- Digital government for Tourism
- ICT-driven innovation and challenges in Tourism & Hospitality
- ICT-Based Tourism Marketing
- Smart education in Tourism & Hospitality
- Innovation in teaching and learning process in Tourism & Hospitality
Sustainable Tourism and the Circular Economy
Mini Track Chair: Dr Christopher J Moon, Middlesex University, UK
ICTR 2023 Mini Track on Sustainable Tourism and the Circular Economy
This track will explore the latest developments in the use of circular economy concepts in the tourism industry. Papers reviewing best practices in sustainable tourism or highlighting innovative practices are particularly welcome. This includes the tourism industry, sustainable processes, sustainable transport, sustainable stays (hotels, other establishments, local consumption, waste sorting, etc.), feedback between tourists and providers to improve the sustainable tourism global offer; data on sustainable tourism demands and expectations; innovation and sustainability.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Circular economy in tourism
- Energy and carbon savings in establishments
- Use of recycled materials
- Eco-friendly sourcing / organic
- Eco-certifications / labelling
- Energy positive
- Zero km