Fifth ATLAS Africa Conference |
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Tourism and wealth creation |
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Kampala, Uganda |
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27-29 October 2007 |
Fifth ATLAS Africa Conference |
|
|
Tourism and wealth creation |
|
Kampala, Uganda |
|
27-29 October 2007 |
IndexThe deadline for abstract submission has been extended to July 1st 2007!
Introduction|
ATLAS Africa, Makerere University, and SNV-UGANDA invite you to the 5th ATLAS Africa conference in Kampala, Uganda 27th - 29th October 2007. Tourism constitutes one of the major economic forces of the world. UNWTO statistics since mid 1970s up to today indicate that tourism is a leading sector in terms of economic development, wealth creation and employment apart from oil and petroleum and car manufacturing industries. Tourism has become a significant factor in economic growth, development and in global, national, regional and local economic relations. The role of tourism in both international and national economies has made governments, stakeholders and academicians to develop economic indicators to measure the impacts: the number of visitor arrivals, receipts from international visitors, visitor expenditure when travelling abroad, its contribution in both international and national export earnings. UNWTO since 1999 developed Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) to specifically measure the contribution of tourism in national wealth creation, employment and investment. In the last decade concepts of sustainable tourism development and pro- poor tourism have emerged to see that tourism is used as a tool to alleviate poverty and create wealth for the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Poverty reduction and wealth creation are increasingly seen as new paradigms for economic, social, political and environmental sustainability in developing countries and disadvantaged communities in general. For a long time, emphasis on poverty reduction and wealth creation has been focusing mostly on agricultural modernization, industrial development and infrastructure development. Particularly agricultural modernization and industrial development are constrained and marred by issues of global competition, inadequate resources, problems of market accessibility in developed countries, use of outdated technology and institutional restrictions. The absurdity is an ever-increasing development gap. The problem of developing countries is further aggravated by rapid population growth, environmental degradation, famine natural and man-made calamities and political instabilities. These issues have resulted into incurable chronic and ever increasing misery and poverty. The unique characteristic feature of tourism is where production and consumption take place at the destination making it free from institutional restrictions, outdated technology and market inaccessibility. This implies that 'new' tourism in principle can positively be used to fight poverty and create wealth at national, regional and local levels. The ideology of using tourism for economic benefit changed drastically after the Rio earth Summit, 1987. Emphasis has been put on mainstreaming local communities in decision-making and control of tourism resources to determine their economic destiny. New tourism approaches - as for example ecotourism, sustainable tourism and pro poor tourism - strive to achieve conservation, local community empowerment and grass root wealth creation. But many of these new approaches are relatively untried and untested; there is as yet no blueprint. Moreover, many questions still have to be properly addressed; what are the dimensions of poverty which tourism can address?; what should be the new roles of players in order to achieve equity at all levels of wealth generation?; what are the best approaches / models to be used to fight poverty through tourism? These and many other questions will be critically examined during this fifth Atlas Africa conference. |
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Conference Goals and ObjectivesThe goal of the conference is to discuss how tourism can be used as a major economic strategy to create wealth and fight poverty in an African context. The conference will focus on tourism resource use to create wealth, businesses of tourism, tourism in fight of local community poverty and entrepreneurial development, new policy formulation and revenue / income distribution. The conference aims to achieve the following general objectives.
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Keynote speakersThe conference organizers have invited the following keynote speakers (to be confirmed):
| Dorothea Meyer | Dorothea Meyer joined Sheffield Hallam in 2004 after many years of working and researching within the tourism sector. Specialising in Pro-Poor Tourism (PPT), Dorothea spent several years working for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). Dorothea is currently working on several projects in East Africa, and in particular Tanzania. She is also working with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to develop methodologies assessing the development impacts of FDI in tourism. |
| Rosaleen Duffy | Rosaleen Duffy is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for International Politics of the University of Manchester, and before joining CIP she worked at the Universities of Lancaster and Edinburgh. She is primarily interested in notions of global governance, global environmental politics, the environmental impact of criminalisation and the politics of tourism |
| Prof. Thorme Wolfgang | Prof. Thome is the immediate past president of the Uganda Tourism Association (UTA), Uganda's tourism private sector apex body, after serving as president from 2001 until 2007. During this period of time tourism underwent a renaissance and arrival numbers more than tripled to now over 700.000 visitors per annum. Of special significance is the fact that Prof. Thome has also been chairing the Rhino Fund Uganda from the year 2001, which has since then created Uganda's first private 18.000 acres game sanctuary and re-introduced presently 8 rhinos to the country, for the first time since 1982. |
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Call for papersThe organizers welcome abstracts, full papers and communications on a range of themes but not limited to:
The official language of the conference will be English.
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Paper types and workshops This conference distinguishes A- and B- type of papers.
Authors of A-papers will be able to present their papers for a maximum of 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of question and discussions. The workshops are expected to last as usually 2 hours with 4 presentations (4 x half an hour). A-papers are accepted based on submission of an abstract. Final papers are due one month after the conference. During these workshops a wide range and categories of papers are expected to be discussed (results of empirical research; case studies; descriptive studies; good practices, etc).
B-type papers: This to be based on theoretical and conceptual issues related to the conference theme. Authors of B-papers are invited to submit full papers one month before the conference. According to conventional methods of reviewing scientific articles, once the papers are accepted, authors will be invited to present them in half an hour with half an hour discussion.
Abstracts should be submitted via this form, no later than July 1, 2007. All field need to be filled in. Abstracts (approximately 300-500 words) should indicate background, theoretical / practical implications and applications, methods and / or data sources, and indicative findings of the paper. The title should be no more than 12 words. Up to 6 keywords / themes should be selected from the list to indicate clearly to which theme(s) of the conference their proposed paper relates to. Abstracts not clearly related to the theme of the conference will not be accepted. Please clearly indicate the type of paper (A-paper or B-paper). Receipt of abstracts will be acknowledged and decisions on acceptance will be provided no later than July 1st, 2007.
The deadline for abstract submission has been extended to July 1st 2007!
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Important dates and deadlines
| Submission of abstracts of A- and B-papers: | 1 July 2007 |
| Notification of acceptance of abstracts: | July 2007 |
| Submission of B-papers: | 1 August 2007 |
| Notification of acceptance of B-papers: | 1 September 2007 |
| Final submission of B-papers: | 1 October 2007 |
| Final submission of A-papers: | 1 December 2007 |
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Scientific committee
1. Dr. Renι Van der Duim Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
2. Dr. Jockey Baker Nyakaana, Makerere University, Uganda.
3. Prof. Dr. Bob Wishitemi, Moi University, Kenya.
4. Prof. Dr. Eric Edroma, Nkumba University, Uganda.
5. Prof. Dr. Joseph Obua, Makerere University, Uganda.
6. Dr. Bakunda Geoffrey, Makerere University Business School Uganda.
7. Prof. Dr. John Akama, Moi University, Kenya.
8. Dr. Harry Wels, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
9. Prof. Dr. Jarkko Saarinen, University of Oulu, Finland
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Publication detailsSelected full papers will be considered for publication in an edited book, a special issue of a selected Journal and/or in the ATLAS Africa publication series. More details will follow shortly.
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Field tripsThe Uganda Community Tourism Association (UCOTA) uses tourism to create wealth for local communities and formed 52 tourism community based organizations (TCBO's) in Uganda. TCBO's are to be found in Kampala, Wakiso Mukono and Jinja Districts. The field tours will be held during a day where participants are divided with different groups to visit the sites. Thereafter discussions will be held on adoption, improvements and recommendations of widely using such projects for creation of wealth.
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Provisional programmeThe conference will have plenary sessions, workshops and field trips.
Saturday 27 October 2007
| Plenary sessions and workshops |
Sunday 28 October 2007
| Fieldtrips |
Monday 29 October 2007
| Plenary sessions and workshops |
A detailed program will be published in September 2007
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Conference packagesThe conference fee will be:
| Residence: | ATLAS member |
Non ATLAS member |
| In Africa | 75 | 150 |
| Outside Africa | 275 | 350 |
This fee includes 3 days participation, conference documentation, coffee breaks and water, and fieldtrips. This fee does NOT include accommodation, lunches and dinners. Lunches and dinners are included in the full board room fee for the Ridar Hotel.
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Cancellation policyAfter registration and confirmation of this by the ATLAS secretariat, delegates are obliged to pay the conference fee. If written cancellation is received before September 1st 2007, a refund of all meeting fees will be made, minus an administration fee of 25. No refund will be possible after September 1st 2007, but substitute delegates can be nominated.
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Conference venue
Makerere University, Main campus
Food Science and Technology Building
Kampala, UGANDA
Website: www.agric.mak.ac.ug/
Contact Persons:
1. George M. (Tel: +256-71-2-304874)
2. Wilber Ahebwa (Tel: +256-77-2-616279)
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Recommended hotels
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How to get thereRidar Hotel courtesy shuttles, all air-conditioned, from Entebbe International Airport are available for airport transfers.
International participants need to travel to Entebbe Airport in Uganda.
From the airport delegates can get in touch with the hotels and arrange transport services to their hotel.
The Hotel Equatoria coach can bring delegates staying there at a rate of USD 10 one way from the Airport to the hotel, and v.v.
Delegates can also take a taxi. The journey to the city of Kampala and the recommended hotels will be approximately 40 km and the rate one way will be approximately 10-15 dollars.
The recommended hotels are in a radius of 1-3 km from Makerere University Main Campus. Delegates can arrange transfers between their hotel and the conference venue with the hotel or order a taxi.
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Conference organisers
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The Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) was established in 1991 to develop transnational educational initiatives in tourism and leisure. ATLAS was designated a "European Thematic Network" for the tourism and leisure subject areas by the European Commission in 1996. ATLAS provides a forum to promote staff and student exchange, transnational research and to facilitate curriculum and professional development. ATLAS currently has almost 300 member institutions in 66 countries. ATLAS has active chapters in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa, and a new chapter ATLAS Americas is being developed at the moment. The ATLAS homepage can be visited via www.atlas-euro.org. |
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Makerere University is one of the oldest Universities in sub- Saharan Africa. Whose mission statement is "To provide quality teaching, carry out research and offer professional services to meet the needs of the changing society". Geography Department established in the late 1940s and its Tourism programme established in 1996 aims at achieving sustainable development through tourism and natural resource conservation. The Department Organises and manages international conferences aimed at promoting knowledge sharing in fields of sustainable development, natural resource conservation and tourism development |
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SNV provides capacity development services to local organisations working in developing countries to support their fight against poverty and promoting good governance and works in 31 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. As part of strengthening partnership for poverty eradication, SNV has been involved in organising country and regional conferences for localising MDGs in partnership with UNDP. SNV sustainable tourism development strategy focuses on strengthening local organisations involved in development and marketing of community tourism products and services with the aim of increasing household income from tourism activities. |
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Post conference toursRidar Hotel courtesy shuttles, all air-conditioned, for those who may need a taxi to town or to the source of the Nile can be arranged on request. Local taxi companies offer services from the Ridar Hotel to anywhere in Uganda. Uganda has always been called the "the pearl of Africa" and boasts of the best-unspoiled game reserves and national parks. Tour operators, connected to the Ridar Hotel, can organize a memorable excursion for you.
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Information on the area
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Registration
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