Academicians, who conduct research and give lectures in the field of tourism around the world, met in Avanos – Nevşehir, Turkey.
The conferences organized under the leadership of Anatolia, the tourism journal by Taylor&Francis, and the Anatolia Tourism Academy, based in Turkey, are the 10th World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, and 6th Interdisciplinary Tourism Research Conference.
The conference series started with an academic seminar on 2nd October, continued with sessions and keynote speakers and ended with a local tour to the major tourist attractions of Cappadocia on 5th and 6th October. The participants were quite diverse, intellectual and interactive representing 20 countries including USA, UK, Spain, Portugal, Hong Kong, Laos, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, South Africa, Iran, among others.
Four tourism professors were invited as keynote speakers who are internationally well-recognised: Pauline Sheldon (USA), Sanda Corak (Croatia), Hazel Tucker (New Zealand) ve Haiyan Song (Hong Kong). Of these, Professor Hazel Tucker presented the findings of her ongoing research on the social impacts of tourism development in Cappadocia.
Within the scope of scientific tourism activities, tours including Cappadocia’s historical and natural beauties were also organized. The conferences ended with a gala dinner and award ceremony on the evening of 5th October. The recognition awards were presented to their recipients in six categories: Flareti Kotsi, United Arab Emirates (Prof. Pauline Sheldon Recognition Award), Maisarah Abd Hamid, Malaysia (Prof. Tej Vir Singh Recognition Award), Ana Isabel Rodrigues, Portugal (Anatolia Silver Research Paper Award), Edina Ajanovic, Turkey (Ph.D. Dissertation Recognition Award), and Demet Ceylan, Turkey (Master’s Thesis Recognition Award).
The next conference series will take place in June 2019.
