Platform for young research
The ISCONTOUR, which has been held annually since 2013, was founded by Prof.(FH) Mag. Christian Maurer, Head of Institute Tourism, Wine Business and Marketing and Programme Director Master Marketing at IMC Krems, and Prof. Dr. Roman Egger, Senior Lecturer, Innovation & Management in Tourism at FH Salzburg. Since 2019, the ISCONTOUR has been jointly organised by IMC Krems and MCI Innsbruck and held alternately at the two locations Krems and Innsbruck.
Aim of the conference: promoting young researchers
At ISCONTOUR, international students and graduates of bachelor, master and PhD programmes present their research work. All submissions are evaluated by an international Scientific Committee in a so-called "double-blind-review" process, so that only scientifically high-quality articles are presented at the conference. All submissions will be published in a conference volume.
The two-day conference offers an interesting programme with workshops on innovative research methods, exciting keynote lectures and presentations of the research work by the young researchers. Ulrike Rauch-Keschmann (Head of the Tourism Section at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Economic Affairs) and Barbara Prodinger, MA (Team Leader for Digitisation and Innovation at the Austrian National Tourist Office) were invited as keynote speakers.
The topics of the research contributions ranged from sustainable tourism to marketing and product development to destination management. In addition to research, the focus is of course also on networking.
Forming the foundations for academic careers
The target groups of ISCONTOUR are students, graduates, professors, researchers and tourism practitioners. The non-profit conference is gratefully supported by various sponsors.
The award winners
The best submissions were awarded prizes. There were two categories:
Best ICT-related Paper Award (Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism)
1st place
Precious Magtulis, Maria Soledad Godoy Muñoz, Thi Cam Ha Phan and Carlos Inga – Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Digital open innovation contests in tourism: An ecosystem theory approach
2nd place
Monica Fabiola Coronel Padilla – Corvinus University Budapest
Should DMOs ask the locals? Projected image through destination promotional videos
3rd place
Nell Schmidt, Lisa Weigl-Pollack, Christopher J. J. Cunliffe, Ruslan Safarov and Beatrice Paris – Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria
The steps from eTourism to smart tourism to the metaverse in the future: A scenario analysis
Best Paper Award
1st place
Babalwa Mgxekwa, Martinette Kruger and Marco Scholtz – North West University
What constitutes an authentic visitor experience at liberation cultural heritage sites in South Africa? The perspectives of visitors and heritage officials
2nd place
Thokozile Happiness Selepe and Ncedo Jonathan Ntloko – North West University
Visitor perspectives on accessibility of Vilakazi Street township tourism product: Covid-19 pandemic and beyond
3rd place
Thatsanawalai Imong – Plymouth University
"Does the experience of coastal tourism affect engagement in coastal conservation?” a case study of Plymouth
"With the ISCONTOUR we want to motivate students and graduates for research. It is a joy every time to see the beaming faces of the authors after they have successfully presented their research. And for some, this first publication may lay the foundations for an academic career. For tourism businesses and tourism organisations, ISCONTOUR also offers a platform to exchange ideas with highly qualified, potential employees," says Christian Maurer.
The 11th ISCONTOUR 2024 will take place at MCI Innsbruck from 13-14 May 2024.
