"Creating Sustainable Tourist Experiences"
 June 30 – July 3, 2019, San Francisco, California (USA), hosted by
Department of Recreation, Parks & Tourism, San Francisco State University

We warmly invite you to the BEST EN Think Tank XIX to be held in San Francisco, California (USA) from June 30 – July 3, 2019 in conjunction with the Department of Recreation, Parks & Tourism, San Francisco State University.

The theme of Think Tank XIX is “Creating Sustainable Tourist Experiences”.

Experiences are at the core of tourism. People travel seeking memorable and rewarding experiences - travelers want to learn, discover, and undergo unique experiences. Experiences are at the core of tourism; people travel seeking opportunities for memorable and rewarding experiences. As consumers become more sophisticated, helping them create memorable experiences contributes to value and competitive advantage. To date, most attention has been paid to the sustainability of the infrastructure, facilities, products and services that support tourist experiences, with little discussion of sustainability of tourist experiences themselves or their potential to ignite a passion for sustainable lifestyles.

In 2018, the BEST EN Think Tank focused attention on the development and marketing of sustainable tourism products and services. Although tourist experiences are inextricably linked to tourism marketing, many of the 2018 papers focused on the tourism sector rather than the nature of the experiences that tourists seek and talk about.  The 2019 BEST EN Think Tank aims to build on the 2018 meeting and explore in more detail the sustainability elements of the tourist experience.  It will examine two key questions;

The focus of our collaborative Think Tank is on the joint production of outputs including teaching support materials, the BEST EN Online Lecture series and a research agenda. As with previous Think Tanks, outputs will be accessible to all (under a creative commons license) for further development and use in teaching and research (e.g. https://www.besteducationnetwork.org).

Participants are welcome to present both state-of-the-art empirical and conceptual research papers providing the basis for inspiring, critical and constructive sessions. We encourage multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary submissions. The range of sub-topics related to “Sustainable tourist experiences” includes:

We invite potential authors to submit either an abstract or full paper for consideration by the Think Tank’s scientific committee. Early submission of abstracts and papers is encouraged and will expedite the review process for those needing advanced notification of the status of acceptance. The deadline for both abstract and paper submission is the 10th of March 2019.

Abstracts should be approximately 1,000 words with a title page containing full name and contact information, and follow the structure of a full paper as outlined below. Papers should be no more than 6,000 words in length (excluding tables/references), double spaced and in APA format. Authors must use the template available at (TTXIX Submission Template.docx).

The review process will start on the 1st of December 2018; authors should receive notification of acceptance within 4-6 weeks of submission. Winners of the BEST EN Outstanding Paper Award will be selected from the papers and abstracts that best reflect the theme of Think Tank XIXI.

Abstracts and papers will go through a double blind peer review process. Final versions of abstracts and full papers must be submitted by the 7th of June, 2019, and will be published by BEST EN (under the Creative Commons license) in the Think Tank’s electronic proceedings and will be accessible on the BEST EN website. A condition of paper publication is that at least one author must attend the Think Tank.