General and specific aims of the program
To bring, to Medellin, international human talent in order to enhance tourism measurement in Antioquia framed in INRoute, which helps the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in subjects such as the contribution of regional tourism to the economy of the country.
The more accurate the figures of any economic sector, the bigger the chances are of getting international investment in that sector. Due to the last sentence, this program is aimed at encouraging industries, authorities and academics to precisely measure tourism in their territories. At the same time, teaching how tourism can be measured on a smaller scale is also one of the goals of this conference. Not only can tourism be measured in a national quantity but also on a departmental scale. Therefore, tools and techniques to make decisions are to be shown in the present program.
Methodology
Plenary conferences with the participation of well renowned keynote speakers and policy makers.
Justification of the program
Tourism is unevenly distributed across the national territory; therefore, a better understanding of tourism activity at a sub-national level will be instrumental for a more efficient policy design at a national level. Thus, sub-national measurement and analysis of tourism becomes an extremely relevant issue.
The present MOVE2013 Conference is organized within the conceptual framework of the International Network on Regional Economics, Mobility and Tourism (INRouTe), an initiative promoted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This network is dedicated to advancing policy-oriented measurement and analysis of tourism in order to provide operational guidance to entities involved with regional and local tourism destinations.
INRouTe´s conceptual framework and its singularity as a new international network is included in the following publication INRouTe and UNWTO (2012) A Closer Look at Tourism: Sub-national Measurement and Analysis – Towards a Set of UNWTO Guidelines, UNWTO, Madrid. Download its executive summary here.
Tourism Observatories
The design of a Regional Tourism Observatory as proposed by INRouTe is conceived to be the necessary institutional tool for the setting up of a Regional Tourism Information System (R-TIS) and its sustainability. The setting up of an R-TIS is not just a technical challenge associated to the creation of a database: it goes well beyond that issue. It also requires an institutional tool in order to bring together legitimacy and credibility for regional tourism and assist in the sustainability of such a system. The design of a Tourism Observatory as proposed by INRouTe should consider the following elements: The strategic objective / Programmes / Activities / Assessing the effectiveness of programmes implementation / Technological infrastructure and other resources.
Visitors Behavior Measurement and Deconstruction of Tourism Destinations Demand
Household and borders surveys are the main methodologies used for the measurement and analysis of tourism nationwide. However, when knowing what a visitor does when he/she is in a certain destination becomes key for designing tourism policies, such surveys fall short. Assuming that national or regional surveys should be the basis for comparison at the national and international levels, it also seems necessary to establish a set of guidelines for performance measurement and analysis of sub-regional tourism. The collection of detailed information on the behavior at the destinations, the visited points, the means of transport used, and the associated costs, requires new forms of measurement. Gaining further knowledge on these aspects means advancing in the measurement of typologies, products and itineraries.
Meetings Industry
The present conference is interested in making advances on constructing a coherent and systematic picture of the economic relevance of the Meetings Industry in regional economies, specifically evaluating different options to measure the Meetings Industry linkage to tourism.
Content
This conference wants to accommodate research as well as traditional and other innovative measurement methodologies, provided that the study area is sub-national in scope and they address the following topics:
Topic 1 – Tourism Observatories
Topic 2 – Visitors Behavior Measurement and Deconstruction of Tourism Destinations Demand
Subtopics:
- Typologies of Visitors
- Tourism Products
- Itineraries
Topic 3 – Meetings Industry