This conference, prepared as part of a 3-years research project on the “Overall Rural Tourism Experience” (ORTE) inthree Portuguese villages, offers an in depth discussion of the “rural tourism experience”, its manifestations, meanings, impacts and evolution. It intends to significantly contribute to current reflections on the potential and limitations of rural tourism as a development tool as well as to the identification of ways to maximize this potential in certain circumstances, through a more profound understanding of the dynamics of the “overall rural tourism experience”.

International Conference on Rural Tourism

5th-7th September 2013, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Rural tourism has attracted increasing interest from academics, politicians and practioners alike. However contested its definition, the countryside’s popularity amongst urban populations, and the socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by both rural areas and by rural tourism, are strong themes worldwide. Those challenges include the decline and change of traditionally dominant agricultural and productive functions, the potential development of the countryside as a place of hedonic consumption, all coupled with numerous management issues. The list of issues is enormous: tensions and interactions between global and local, rural and urban; man versus nature; anthropocentric versus eco-centric; production and consumption; past, present and future; conservation and progress; nostalgia, imaginary and real; the desires and expectations of a growing series of diverse stakeholders with distinct interests in the “rural space”.

Rural tourism can be analysed from geographical, sociological, cultural, economic, ecological, political, rural development, and from market and marketing perspectives, in order to identify and understand new meanings and opportunities, as well as challenges and difficulties. The countryside’s numerous realities manifest themselves in distinct territorial, economic and socio-cultural contexts and interactions all of which shape the “overall rural tourism experience” lived by all stakeholders who are involved in its co-creation. This co-creation is itself both a challenge and an opportunity to re-invent the rural tourism experience in an innovative and sustainable way. The conservation – even preservation - of the core values and attractions of most rural areas – nature, landscape, cultural heritage, local gastronomy - is certainly needed. But, there is increasing, and global, competition amongst all types of destinations, and amongst rural destinations. There is an increasingly sophisticated and experienced (and global) tourist market. This equation demands market and business knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship, networks and social capital at the local and regional scale if we are to create rural tourism systems that both attract and satisfy tourists and effectively contribute to the sustainable development of rural areas.

This conference, prepared as part of a 3-years research project on the “Overall Rural Tourism Experience” (ORTE) in three Portuguese villages, offers an in depth discussion of the “rural tourism experience”, its manifestations, meanings, impacts and evolution. It intends to significantly contribute to current reflections on the potential and limitations of rural tourism as a development tool as well as to the identification of ways to maximize this potential in certain circumstances, through a more profound understanding of the dynamics of the “overall rural tourism experience”.

Seven main themes are suggested for guiding discussions on the rural tourism experience:

1. Understanding the rural tourist: their motivations, perceptions, sensations, experiences, memories and imagination

2. Understanding rural residents’ experience with tourists

3. Experience design with endogenous resources (focusing on “countryside capital”)

4. Entrepreneurship and innovation for quality rural tourism experiences

5. Marketing the rural tourism experience: co-creation, experience design and promotion

6. Networks and Strategic Partnership for enhancing the Overall Rural Tourism Experience

7. Enhancing sustainable development through rural tourism experiences

Confirmed Keynote speakers:

• Keith Halfacree (Swansea University)
• Elisabeth Kastenholz (University of Aveiro)
• Bernard Lane (Journal of Sustainable Tourism )
• Nancy McGehee (Virginia Tech)
• Gunjan Saxena (University of Hull)
• Richard Sharpley (University of Central Lancashire)
• Hio Jung Shin (Korea Association of Rural Tourism and Kangwon University , Korea)

Call for papers

Submission Deadline: February 15, 2013

Full paper (max. 5,000 words) and poster abstracts (max. 5,000 characters)

Submission information:

Both full papers and posters are sought for consideration by the Scientific Committee:

Submitted full papers (maximum 5,000 words, including references) should be relevant within the overall conference theme, addressing at least one of the conference topics, should be written in English. All contributions must be original (i.e. not already or in the process of being published elsewhere), and follow academic writing, structure and methodology – please see guidelines at: http://cms.ua.pt/orte/?q=pt-pt/node/43

Posters should be relevant within the overall conference theme, addressing at least one of the conference topics and written in English – please see guidelines at: http://cms.ua.pt/orte/?q=node/43

Full papers (maximum 5,000 words, including references) should be relevant within the overall conference theme, addressing at least one of the conference topics, should be written in English. All contributions must be original (i.e. not already or in the process of being published elsewhere), follow academic writing, structure and methodology.

Guidelines for full papers:

• British and American English
• Dimension: not exceed 5,000 words inclusive of tables, references and the abstract.     Authors should include a word count with their manuscript and pages should be numbered.
• Abstracts of 200 words maximum
• 5      to 6 keywords
• A4 size page formatting
• Font:      Times New Roman
• APA 6^th reference      style
• Structure of the article: title page* and main text, with no reference to the authors of the paper,      following the structure: abstract; keywords; introduction; literature      review; methodology; discussion of results; conclusions; acknowledgments;      appendixes (as appropriate); references; table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figure caption(s) (as a list).

* Title page must contain full name, short biographical note and affiliation for each author. For the corresponding author, who should be clearly identified, we also need postal address, telephone number and email address. The affiliations of all named co-authors should be the affiliation where the research was conducted.

Article style:

Headings and sub-headings: Should be numbered sequentially, left justified and bolded. First word and proper nouns cap only.

Paragraphs: Indented

Table, figures and any other graphic representation:

. in text: (Table 1)

. Caption: Table 1. Title (Title initial cap only; caption ranged left and above table)

Notes: Note: This is a note. (ranged left under table)

Numbers: spell out one to nine, then 10, 1000, 10,000, 10% (except at start of sentence)

Posters should be relevant within the overall conference theme, addressing at least one of the conference topics and written in English. The authors should submitt (see Deadlines on the menu on the left) a poster's abstract following the structure: title; objectives; methodology; main results; and conclusions.

Guidelines for posters:

• Posters dimensions: 90 cm width and 100 cm height.
• Font size should be no less than 48 points for titles and 18 points for other texts.
• Posters must have a header containing the title of the work, name(s) of author(s) and name and/or logo of the institution in which the work was carried out. It is also recommended that the author (s) e-mail address is contained in this header, in smaller letters. It is necessary that the poster contains a clear and concise section of objectives, followed by a section of methodology. Most of the work should be made of results, containing the main conclusions.

Provided equipment: Poster boards with approximately 100 cm wide and 120 cm height will be supplied. Although we will provide you with tools (adhesive tape, etc.) for hanging your poster, it is recommended that you bring your own materials as a back-up.

Display and removal: The posters will be displayed and removed by the author. They will only be removed on the last day of the event, after the closing session.

Discussion with authors: Poster authors must be present at the exhibition site during the periods defined for its presentation.

All authors should provide the following information when submitting their work: full name, affiliation, postal address, telephone number and email address on the cover page of the submitted full papers / poster’s abstracts. One author should be identified as the corresponding author. The affiliations of all named co-authors should be the affiliation where the research was conducted. Separately, you should provide a short biographical note for each author.

For logistic reasons, each registered author may only present a maximum of 2 papers; eventual additional co-authored papers must be presented by one of the co-authors (who has to register as well).

Scientific Committee

Barre, Suzanne de la - Vancouver Island University, Canada

Breda, Zélia – GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Briedenhann, Jennifer - Buckinghamshire New University, UK

Brito Henriques, Eduardo - University of Lisbon, Portugal

Cai, Liping - Purdue University, USA

Carmichael, Barbara - Wilfred Laurier University, Canada

Carneiro, Maria João - GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Cavaco, Carminda – New University of Lisbon, Portugal

Cawley, Mary - National University of Ireland (Galway), Ireland

Costa, Carlos - GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Cravidão, Fernanda – University of Coimbra, Portugal

Cristóvão, Artur - CETRAD-UTAD, Portugal

Dinis, Anabela – University of Beira Interior, Portugal

Edwards, Jonathan - Bournemouth University, UK

Eusébio, Celeste - GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Fernandes, Carlos - Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Ferreira, Ana Maria - University of Évora, Portugal

Figueiredo, Elisabete - GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Frochot, Isabelle - University of Savoie, France

Gascon, Jordi - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

Halfacree, Keith - Swansea University, UK

Haukeland, Jan Vidar - Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

Hernández-Maestro, Rosa – University of Salamanca, Spain

Ilbery, Brian- University of Gloucestershire, Countryside and Community Research Institute, UK

Jamal, Tazim - Texas A&M, USA

Jesus, Lúcia - Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal

Kastenholz, Elisabeth - GOVCOPP-University of Aveiro, Portugal

Kline, Carol - East Carolina University, USA

Koutsouris, Alexandros - Agricultural University of Athens, Greece

Lane, Bernard - Red Kite Environment, UK

Lavrador, Ana - eGeo Research Center, Portugal

Lebe, Sonja Sibila - University of Maribor, Slovenia

Loureiro, Sandra - ISCTE-IUL, Portugal

Marques, Carlos - CETRAD-UTAD, Portugal

Mayer, Marius - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

McGehee, Nancy - Virginia Tech, USA

Mueller, Dieter - Umeå University, Sweden

Osti, Linda - Libera Università di Bolzano, Italy

Panyik, Emese - Catholic University of Braga, Portugal

Pechlaner, Harald - Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

Peña , Ana I. Polo - University of Granada, Spain

Pereiro, Xerardo – CETRAD-UTAD, Portugal

Petrou, Anastasia - University of Peloponnese,  Greece

Proebstl, Ulrike - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Austria

Puhakka, Riika - University of Oulu, Finland

Rodrigues, Áurea - CPES, UHTL/ ISCAD and ISLA campus Lisboa, Portugal

Santos, Norberto - University of Coimbra, Portugal

Sarmento, João - University of Minho, Portugal

Saxena, Gunjan - University of Hull, UK

Sharpley, Richard - University of Central Lancashire, UK

Shin, Hio-Jung - Kangwon National University, Korea

Sidali, Katia - University of Göttingen, Germany

Silva, Goretti - Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal

Silva, João Albino - University of Algarve, Portugal

Thompson, Anna - University of Otago, New Zealand

Tucker, Hazel - University of Otago, New Zealand

Umbelino, Jorge - New University of Lisbon, Portugal

Vaughan, Roger - University of Bournemouth, UK

Ying, Tianyu - University of Otago, New Zealand