CALL FOR PAPERS

Aiming at taking even further the topics debated at the previous editions of the International Research Forum on Guided Tours (and bringing new ones to the limelight of discussion), the 4th meeting will bring Sustainability, Certification, Promotion, Interpretation, and Technology back to the core of the meeting.

Bearing these reflections in mind, we would like to invite professionals, students, researchers and academics in general to submit papers focusing on the «Here/There», «Today/Tomorrow», «You/I», «Human/Technological» facets of tour guiding and guided tours.

The themes and subthemes of the Forum are as follows

1. Sustainability in Guided Tours

Social, economical, cultural and ethical issues
Alternative Tours
Sustainability of Tour Guiding

2. Empowering Tour Guides

Qualification and Certification
Associations and Unions
Research in Progress

3. Marketing and Promotion of Guided Tours

The Internet and New Technological Features
Direct Promotion

4. Interpretation of Natural and Cultural Heritage

Intercultural Communication
The value of natural and cultural landscape

5. The Future of Tour Guiding

New Technologies in Guided Tours
Evolution of the tourists profile and demand

6. Tours in a World beyond Modernity

Is there a postmodern tour?
Are we all neo-liberal guides now?
Techno-linguistic machines or poetic resistances – what is the future of the guided tour?
Are audiences digital?

Submission of Abstracts

Please, submit your abstract to irfgt@eshte.pt respecting the guidelines referred below.

All abstracts will be double blind reviewed.

English is the official language of the Forum.

Your file should include 2 separate documents:

1 – Abstract for blind review

2 - A separate sheet with your name, your e-mail, affiliation, country, brief CV, (150 words) title and Forum topic/area (1 to 6) more suitable to your proposal (e.g. 1 – Sustainability in Guided Tours).

The maximum number of submitted abstracts accepted per author (either single or co-author) is two.

Files sent should use Times New Roman as font, size 12, 1.5 as spacing, and 2.5cm on all margins of the A4 page.
Authors/co-authors should provide title, name, e-mail, affiliation, country, brief CV (150 words), and Forum topic/area (1 to 6).
Abstracts should contain no more than 300 words, respect the spirit of the (future) presentation/paper, and indicate 5 keywords.
Do not use endnotes/footnotes, headers/footers, images, tables or charts.

Format of Abstracts

Deadline

Submission of abstracts must occur until the 1st December 2014.

Please, send your proposal with your name, affiliation, brief biography, and e-mail address.

Decisions on accepted papers will be granted until the 30th December 2014.

For further information visit website IRFGT.

Do not hesitate to contact us at irfgt@eshte.pt.

Branislav Rabotic

Cândida Cadavez

Cristina Carvalho

Dineke Koerts

Fernando João Moreira

Francisco Silva

Isilda Leitão

João Reis

Miguel Brito

Mikael Jonasson

Nuno Gustavo

Phill Smith

Raul Filipe

Reidar J. Mykletun

Vitor Ambrósio

Scientific Committee

Important Dates

Open Call for Papers - SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM - Upcoming Special Issue on Guided Tours and Tour Guiding

All papers will be edited and published online in the “IRFGT 2015 Proceedings". The IRFGT 2015 proceedings electronic book of the conference will be available in the RCAAP portal, which has a lot of visibility. Proceedings will be available through various research tools such as B-ON (http://b-on.pt); GOOGLE SCHOLAR (http://scholar.google.pt/); DRIVER SEACH PORTAL (http://search.driver.research-infrastructures.eu/); etc.

SEARCH ENGINES

All contents are also indexed by common search engines like Google, Yahoo; Toad, Bing, which are usually the most frequent source of access to repositories.

To read the instructions regarding format and publication of full papers please refer to (http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=sjht20&page=instructions)

Besides, we are proud to announce a special call for papers of the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism.

If you are willing to have your papers published on the special issue of this journal, you should carefully read all conditions below. In that case you should send your paper to both e-mails: irfgt@eshte.pt and mikael.jonasson@hh.se

Guest editors:

Mikael Jonasson, Halmstad University, Sweden

Anette Hallin, Stockholm University, Sweden

Phil Smith, University of Plymouth, UK

Submissions are invited that explore opportunities for innovative, yet concrete and pratical solutions for guided tours. This Special Issue is in particular related to the 4th International Research Forum on Guided Tours that will be held in Estoril, Portugal, from the 18th to the 21st March 2015 (http://gabcomunicacao.wix.com/irfgt-2015). The call is also open for the other researchers that would like to contribute to the academic discourses in this field.

In the midst of an economic crisis which is showing little prospect of abating, a continuous stream of a new mobile technologies, consumers wanting to co-create their own "experiences" and a steadily rising demand for "greenish" products, the issue is addressing these challenges for guided tours within tourism, and anchor them by connecting them with discourse of previous themed issues.

Technology: Are mobile technologies and location based services making the "human guide"superfluous? Or are we looking at the future of guided tours here, with guides using these technologies to make their tours more "experiential"? Are guided tours the new, mobile performances then? And then there is the guided tour as a metaphor for exploring ideas across a wide range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives? What role does social media play for guided tours? How do business actors strategically manage and innovate with help of technology?

Sustainability and ethics: What relations are being produced between nature and culture, and what are the ethical and sustainable consequences of these relations from a guided tour perspective? What happens when "authentic" areas are being narrated through a guided tour, what is altered, neglected, or made visible? What responsability does the guide have for place and humans, such as slums and vulnerable nature? To what extent may guiding contribute to sustainable development?

Marketing and Promotion of Guided Tours / Economy of tour guiding: Will the economic crisis lead to less consumption and greener tours? What role does guiding have in terms of entrepreneurship and innovations? What are the connections between regional economy, investments and guided tours acting as narrators of attractive places? How does the guided tour contribute to the image of destinations?

Empowering and educating tour guides and development of the art of guiding: What about the changing tourist: older, from rapidly expanding economies, or younger with different views of travelling? How are guides and education institutes preparing for these developments?

Interpretation of natural and cultural heritage, facilitating tourist experience: What role does facts and fiction and interpretations of heritage play in guided tours? What role do emotions and interaction play in guided tours? In what ways are guided tours co-created and co-performed? How do guides develop their tours to meet the new call for extraordinary, memorable and meaningful experiences?

The future of tour guiding; and tour guiding in a world beyond modernity: Tourism and the need for use of guides have been changing over times. What are the current and expected changes for the near future? What trends can be seen in tour guiding and in tourists' demands for services that guides possibly could provide?

We invite submissions taking up and reflecting on these ideas.

Publication process and deadlines:

Please submit an abstract for your possible manuscript to mikael.jonasson@hh.se at latest on 4st of April 2015
Feedback on Abstracts will be given within the 20th of April 2015
Based on the Abstracts, authors will be invited to submit their full papers at latest on the 7th of July, 2015. The full paper manuscript should be 7000 words and present original research. Review papers are also welcomed
Submissions accepted by the guest editors as conforming to the outline of the special issue (above) will be subject to double blind peer review in accordance with the SJHT guidelines for the authors and editorial policies
Expected publication is autumn 2016

Key dates:

Submission of Abstracts: 20st of April 2015
Submission of full manuscripts 7th of July, 2015
Expected publication: Autumn 2016

For further information please contact Associate Professor Mikael Jonasson: mikael.jonasson@hh.se