TN_Header_5Tourism Naturally Conference: Italy 2-5 Oct 2016.   Call for Presenters.

Tourism, Animals and the Natural World symposium – Call for Presenters
Are you researching/working at the intersection of animals and tourism? If so, please join colleagues at a symposium on Tourism, Animals and the Natural World at the Tourism Naturally Conference (www.tourismnaturally.org) being held in Alghero, Italy from October 2 – 5, 2016.

In the context of tourism, humans interact with other animal species in a myriad of ways: we ride them, watch them, feed them, hunt them, photograph them, and so on. This symposium invites presentations that consider overlaps between the activities of people and other animals in tourism settings. The aim is to re-place animals, from the periphery to the centre of tourism discourse, whilst addressing the issue of how to engage responsibly and ethically with them in practice. Topics may include captive or non-captive animals and consumptive or non-consumptive forms of tourism. Presentations may address (for example) the roles of tourists and tour operators, the impacts of tourism on animal welfare, the efficacy of interpretation and the positioning of animals as stakeholders. Focus on interactions that take place in the natural world is particularly encouraged, as is

Topics may include captive or non-captive animals and consumptive or non-consumptive forms of tourism. Presentations may address (for example) the roles of tourists and tour operators, the impacts of tourism on animal welfare, the efficacy of interpretation and the positioning of animals as stakeholders. Focus on interactions that take place in the natural world is particularly encouraged, as is emphasis on facilitating responsible engagement and interaction through consideration of ethics, values and morals. The session will provide a forum for theoretically grounded discussions that highlight contemporary considerations regarding the current developments, trends, and research involving animals as objects of the tourist gaze (Urry 1990).

If you are interested in presenting in this symposium, please send an abstract of no more than 350 words to Georgette Leah Burns (leah.burns@griffith.edu.au) by April 15, 2016.