Past Conference Themes

Image credit: Discover Saskatoon / Carey Shaw Photography

Kingston, Ontario

September 13-15, 2023

Traditionally, we have looked to the past for guidance into the future. While the past certainly holds much importance, it can also limit our ability to forge new paths and truly innovate. Exploring New Waters involved considering new ways of thinking, new approaches to existing problems, and new opportunities to map out our ‘new normal’.

Whether exploring regenerative tourism practices that go beyond sustainability, seeking impactful ways to eliminate leakages by doing more things with fewer inputs, or engaging with local communities using entrepreneurial thinking, we invited researchers to explore these new waters together as we chart this unfamiliar territory in unique and unexpected ways. This theme emphasized the importance of understanding our recently reshaped world by learning where we are now and, most importantly, what direction we need to start moving in.

Virtual Conference

October 13-15, 2021

The 2021 virtual conference theme, T4: Travelling Towards Tomorrow Together, provided a platform to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry. While recognizing the drastic impact of the pandemic on travel and tourism, it is time to move forward. TTRA Canada’s T4 theme called for research addressing the future of travel behaviour and digitization to shift business models towards a more resilient industry and welcomed submissions of tourism research that leverages partnerships.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

September 18-20, 2019

Moving Forward, invited tourism researchers to be forward thinkers; to rediscover Canada’s tourism industry through various lenses that acknowledge the past while providing guidance for our future. A future that inspires authentic cultural experiences for travelers, while providing interactive opportunities for practitioners. Moving Forward calls for impactful tourist experiences across various niche tourism markets, bringing destinations to life and providing tourists with unforgettable travel experiences.

Canada’s future tourism seeks to break down barriers and empower stakeholders to work together to deliver innovative research methodologies. The 2019 conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, highlighted the path ahead, focusing on new ways of thinking about tourism in order to capitalize on emerging technologies, methodologies, and societal changes.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

September 26-28, 2018

Propelling Smarter, Bolder Tourism explored how research is and can be effectively employed to advance Canada’s shared social, economic, environmental, and cultural goals. It is not ‘more’ tourism that Canada needs, it’s ‘better’, more energetic, astute, intelligent tourism. We seek style with substance, diversity with inclusion, and evolution with sustainability. Tourism researchers and their clients are embracing data and know-how to fearlessly chart new directions for established and emerging destinations, and supply impactful, brilliant experiences for our diverse markets.

The 2018 conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia provided a platform for learning about new approaches, lessons learned and the challenges ahead, as we navigate post-truth, virtually-infused, climate change impacted, emerging environments.