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The 63rd AIEST Conference: Advances in Tourism Research – Perspectives of Actors, Institutions and Systems

The International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST) was founded in 1951 and is the oldest international association of scientific and practical experts with particular interest in tourism. It is a unique social network with around 300 members in 49 countries on all continents. The network is devoted to an interdisciplinary approach to serving the needs of research in tourism. It includes both an Academic and a Practitioner stream that allow an international scientific and practical exchange. The AIEST has contributed much to an objective understanding of the modern phenomenon of tourism and to the scientific acceptance of studies in this field. Its members help to pinpoint the latest developments and trends in tourism and to devise farsighted solutions for new problems as they arise. This year, the 63rd annual conference (hereafter AIEST 2013) in Izmir, Turkey, on 25–29 August 2013 has been successfully organized by Metin Kozak of Dokuz Eylul University. Attendees were a multi-cultural group of researchers (55 altogether) at different stages of their academic career affiliated with over 40 institutions and representing 21 countries. Featuring the theme of “Advances in Tourism Research – Perspectives of Actors, Institutions and Systems”, the primary focus of AIEST 2013 was to attract participants from different scientific disciplines and tourism-related industries and discuss the following three major streams of interest: