The two-day programme included over 40 talks by keynote speakers and young researchers from Austria and abroad.
This annual event was initiated by Christian Maurer and Roman Egger (Salzburg University of Applied Sciences), in order to spark students’ fascination with tourism research and bring students’ and graduates’ research findings to a wider audience. Another goal is to promote the sharing of knowledge between researchers and tourism practitioners.
Two-day programme – work and pleasure on the agenda
In her opening address, IMC Krems Rector Prof. Eva Werner highlighted how well ISCONTOUR has resonated with the tourism research community. The presentations on Monday morning looked at smart tourism (Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University) and the digital transformation in tourism, with the latter talk given by IMC Krems’ Roger Hage. In the afternoon workshops, participants had the opportunity to evaluate and discuss innovative research methods. The workshops were held by Prof. Martin Waiguny (IMC Krems), Dan Cole (Fulbright Professor at IMC Krems), Othmar Lehner (Oxford University) and Lidija Lalicic (Modul University Vienna).
Day two gave attendees an insight into the role of user-generated content in research (Prof. Astrid Dickinger, Modul University), while Marc Stickdorn of MoreThanMetrics spoke about enhancing customer experience using service design methods. This was followed by the presentation of 41 research papers by bachelor and master programme graduates from Austria and abroad; the papers were selected by means of a double blind review procedure. They covered subjects ranging from virtual reality and hospitality management to social media marketing and destination management. The ISCONTOUR schedule also included the Doctoral Summer School of the International Federation for IT andTravel & Tourism (IFITT).
Both days were rounded off with useful opportunities to socialise and network. On Monday evening, there was an exclusive guided tour of the Lenz Moser winery including a tasting, while the curtain came down on Tuesday’s events with a relaxing visit to the Heuriger Müllner wine tavern.
For photos and videos of ISCONTOUR 2018, visit:
