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Ecotourism Australia has advised that its Global Eco Asia-Pacific Tourism Conference will take in December this year, anticipating that the event will take on a “special role” as the ecotourism world emerges from the shadow of the immense impacts of Coronavirus.

To be held from 1st to 3rd December in Margaret River, Western Australia, Ecotourism Australia Chair, Dr Claire Ellis says “the event will be an important time to re-calibrate, focus on rebuilding affected markets and creating strong returns to businesses, destinations and communities through tourism.” said Ecotourism Australia Chair, Dr Claire Ellis.

With the theme ‘Revolution, Driving Evolution’, the conference will cover the role of partnerships, collaboration and cooperative marketing will come to the fore as the industry moves into a recovery mode, Conference Convenor, Tony Charters “depending on the status of international recovery from COVID-19 we may see a reduced international contingent physically attending.

“We are investigating options to also offer the conference on-line to make our renowned keynote speakers available to the worldwide community of ecotourism professionals.”

The Conference is seeking papers for its concurrent sessions on Days two and three with the following topics of particular interest:

• Rebuilding after natural disasters
• Pandemics and tourism - what have we learnt from previous events?
• Evolving ecotourism - new directions
• ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste’
• The psychology of disaster recovery
• Implications of COVID-19 for the evolution of ecotourism
• Climate change and ecotourism  
• Tourism in protected areas
• Strategic partnerships as a tool to recovery and evolution
• The evolution and future of green destinations
• Geotourism
• Indigenous tourism
• Product development post COVID-19
• Undertourism and Overtourism
• Community-based ecotourism
• Ecotourism marketing for our times
• Wildlife in ecotourism
• Ecotourism policy and planning in a post COVID-19 environment
• Technology applications to drive the evolution of ecotourism

The deadline for submitting your paper is COB Friday 31st July 2020.

The conference is being supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism Western Australia and The Department of Biodiversity and Attractions, together with Margaret River Busselton Tourism Association, Augusta Margaret River Shire the South West Development-Commission and Business Events Perth.

The event - the world’s longest running ecotourism conference - was last held in Western Australia, specifically Rottnest Island, in 2015. It was last held in Margaret River in 1998.

Global Eco is Ecotourism Australia’s premier annual event and is the most respected ecotourism conference in the world.  It attracts leading tourism industry operators, ecotourism professionals, tourism bodies and researchers.

Click here for more information, including details on submitting papers, for the Global Eco Asia-Pacific Tourism Conference in the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar.

Image shows Margaret River's Jewel Caves.

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