2025 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers
The AAG Annual Meeting will be held in Detroit, Michigan from March 24-28, 2025, and we are currently inviting proposals for sessions and papers. To submit an abstract or session proposal, please see https://aag.secure-platform.com/aag2025. We particularly encourage you to put together sessions with colleagues working on allied topics and themes.
Important Deadlines:
October 31: Abstract Submission
December 5: Session Organizing
To register, please click here: https://www.aag.org/events/aag2025/. Early Bird registration closes on September 5.
If you have questions, feedback or require assistance, please email AAG-RTS Co-Chair Prof. Joseph M. Cheer ([email protected]) or Communications Director Dr. Bailey Ashton Adie ([email protected]).
Special Sessions
Perspectives on Tourism Experiences
Velvet Nelson (Sam Houston State University)
[email protected]
Experiences are at the heart of tourism and a key topic in tourism research. This virtual paper session seeks to broaden participation in the AAG annual meeting and bring together a range of perspectives on tourism experiences. Topics may include, among others:
Whither Tourism?
Dimitri Ioannides, (Mid Sweden University)
[email protected]
Patrick Brouder (Thompson Rivers University)
[email protected]
For more than three decades, sustainability has become the leitmotif in academic discussions relating to tourism. From narrow discussions relating to sustainable tourism to more system-based approaches that examine tourism’s role in a broader context of overall sustainable development, countless studies have grappled with the question of how to reduce the sector’s negative impacts while enhancing its benefits.
Increasingly, frustration related to the normative nature of the sustainability concept and the concomitant challenge of balancing its conflicting goals have led us to an impasse. In response, since the turn of the century, we have seen a proliferation of new ideas that have sought to move us beyond the limitations of the sustainability concept. Drawing from ideas in other disciplines, tourism researchers have increasingly paid attention to concepts such as sustainability transitions, transformation, resilience, degrowth, and regenerative tourism.
To be sure, these new directions in tourism research have opened up new horizons for academic discussion of the tourism phenomenon but, from a practical standpoint, solutions for the problems created by tourism development remain parochial while the negative pressures of tourism’s growth meld with the creeping crises of climate change and decreasing social cohesion. Moreover, geographical idiosyncrasies mean that any localized solutions, whether academic or applied, need careful critique before they are promulgated at a broader scale.
In this double session we invite papers and panelists to discuss, among others, the following:
Please email the session organizers with an abstract for consideration in the paper session or a brief rationale for your inclusion in the panel session. We look forward to hearing from you by 10th October and early expression of interest is welcome as we hope to craft the final version of the sessions together with session participants.
Resilience in Critical Tourism Geographies: Sustainability Transformations in the Era of Polycrisis
Jarkko Saarinen (University of Oulu)
[email protected]
Joseph M. Cheer (Western Sydney University)
[email protected]
Resilience has become an important framework for thinking about the relationship between tourism and change, its governance, and how to transform the industry towards enhancing sustainability in the future (Cheer et al., 2019; Cheer & Lew, 2018; Hall et al, 2017; Lew & Cheer, 2018; Saarinen and Gill, 2019). There are varying ways to understand what resilience means and how it relates to the ideas of sustainable development. In general, resilience refers to the capacity of a unit or a system to prepare for, respond to, and recover from internal or external adverse events and shocks, while maintaining their capacity to function and develop (Folke, 2016). Resilience is often seen as a condition but not sufficient for sustainability (Derisses et al., 2011), meaning that coping and adapting to change may be an expression of resilience but not necessarily sustainable in the long term. Indeed, resilience is a highly complex set of relationships and at varying operational scales (Boschma, 2014), and it can potentially involve both positive and negative aspects for sustainability (e.g., a high resilience can lock-in a system toward a path of short-term growth that is not beneficial for long-term development). For resilience, as a process, to become sustainable, there must be a transformative governance of resilience towards the positive normative ideals and principles of sustainable development (see European Environmental Agency, 2023). In this respect, key conceptual and theoretical approaches relevant to understanding transformational governance strategies relating to resilience include, for example, a just transition regime, coevolution, proactive adaptive capacity, good governance, and sustainable mobility governance.
In tourism, identifying and understanding the drivers of change is an important aspect in transitioning towards sustainability (Saarinen & Gill, 2019). This transition has become increasingly critical but also challenging due to the multitude of changes, shocks and related risks. These are estimated to be further intensified and expected to become ‘super-wicked’ in the future, forming complex polycrises that integrate myriad emergent crises, such as climate change, sixth mass extinction, financial insecurity, war and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, and global shifts in geopolitics, among others. In tourism geographies, this calls for critical thinking and nuanced discussion about the role and potential of tourism as a driver for development, and how it might help develop greater destination resiliency, and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, and beyond.
This session aims to critically discuss wider notions of resilience and its relation to sustainability in tourism, and how to progress policy and practice toward the transformational governance of tourism towards sustainability, and in the context of the ongoing and intensifying polycrisis. The session welcomes both conceptual papers and empirical case studies.
If you are interested in participating in the session: Please send your abstract (max. 250 words) to Jarkko Saarinen ([email protected]) and Joseph Cheer ([email protected]) by October 24. We will swiftly notify the authors, giving participants time to submit before the present October 31 abstract deadline. Note: all accepted contributors will need to register for the conference (and provide their PIN to the session organizers to be added to the session). General information about the conference can be found here https://www.aag.org/events/aag2025/
It is anticipated that papers from this session will be invited to submit a full manuscript for consideration in a Special Issue in Tourism Geographies.
References
AI and Big Data in Tourism and Hospitality: social media, spatially distributed data and data mining
Andrei P. Kirilenko (University of Florida)
[email protected]
The AI and Big Data revolution, which started during the past decade, brought new possibilities for decision-making and innovation based on novel data analysis methods. The field is highly fragmented, and the methods to analyze data are not firmly set, are still evolving, and are very fluid. However, in tourism and hospitality, the following common key areas and methods emerge:
Important Deadlines:
October 31: Abstract Submission
December 5: Session Organizing
To register, please click here: https://www.aag.org/events/aag2025/. Early Bird registration closes on September 5.
If you have questions, feedback or require assistance, please email AAG-RTS Co-Chair Prof. Joseph M. Cheer ([email protected]) or Communications Director Dr. Bailey Ashton Adie ([email protected]).
Special Sessions
Perspectives on Tourism Experiences
Velvet Nelson (Sam Houston State University)
[email protected]
Experiences are at the heart of tourism and a key topic in tourism research. This virtual paper session seeks to broaden participation in the AAG annual meeting and bring together a range of perspectives on tourism experiences. Topics may include, among others:
- accessible tourism experiences
- authenticity in tourism experiences
- co-creation in tourism experiences
- designing tourism experiences
- emotional tourism experiences
- memorable tourism experiences
- sensory dimensions of tourism experiences
- sharing tourism experiences
- sustainable tourism experiences
- virtual tourism experiences
Whither Tourism?
Dimitri Ioannides, (Mid Sweden University)
[email protected]
Patrick Brouder (Thompson Rivers University)
[email protected]
For more than three decades, sustainability has become the leitmotif in academic discussions relating to tourism. From narrow discussions relating to sustainable tourism to more system-based approaches that examine tourism’s role in a broader context of overall sustainable development, countless studies have grappled with the question of how to reduce the sector’s negative impacts while enhancing its benefits.
Increasingly, frustration related to the normative nature of the sustainability concept and the concomitant challenge of balancing its conflicting goals have led us to an impasse. In response, since the turn of the century, we have seen a proliferation of new ideas that have sought to move us beyond the limitations of the sustainability concept. Drawing from ideas in other disciplines, tourism researchers have increasingly paid attention to concepts such as sustainability transitions, transformation, resilience, degrowth, and regenerative tourism.
To be sure, these new directions in tourism research have opened up new horizons for academic discussion of the tourism phenomenon but, from a practical standpoint, solutions for the problems created by tourism development remain parochial while the negative pressures of tourism’s growth meld with the creeping crises of climate change and decreasing social cohesion. Moreover, geographical idiosyncrasies mean that any localized solutions, whether academic or applied, need careful critique before they are promulgated at a broader scale.
In this double session we invite papers and panelists to discuss, among others, the following:
- Have we reached the end of the road for academic conceptualisations of tourism?
- Have we reached the end of the road for tourism development in some places?
- What lies beyond tourism as both an academic concept and an applied endeavour?
- Should tourism research go back to basics?
- What is the likelihood of the broad uptake of critical perspectives such as ‘degrowth’
- What are the applied limits to emerging concepts such as ‘regenerative tourism’?
- Should any sensitive areas become ‘out of bounds’ for tourism?
- Where should tourism geographers best apply our collective efforts in the years ahead?
Please email the session organizers with an abstract for consideration in the paper session or a brief rationale for your inclusion in the panel session. We look forward to hearing from you by 10th October and early expression of interest is welcome as we hope to craft the final version of the sessions together with session participants.
Resilience in Critical Tourism Geographies: Sustainability Transformations in the Era of Polycrisis
Jarkko Saarinen (University of Oulu)
[email protected]
Joseph M. Cheer (Western Sydney University)
[email protected]
Resilience has become an important framework for thinking about the relationship between tourism and change, its governance, and how to transform the industry towards enhancing sustainability in the future (Cheer et al., 2019; Cheer & Lew, 2018; Hall et al, 2017; Lew & Cheer, 2018; Saarinen and Gill, 2019). There are varying ways to understand what resilience means and how it relates to the ideas of sustainable development. In general, resilience refers to the capacity of a unit or a system to prepare for, respond to, and recover from internal or external adverse events and shocks, while maintaining their capacity to function and develop (Folke, 2016). Resilience is often seen as a condition but not sufficient for sustainability (Derisses et al., 2011), meaning that coping and adapting to change may be an expression of resilience but not necessarily sustainable in the long term. Indeed, resilience is a highly complex set of relationships and at varying operational scales (Boschma, 2014), and it can potentially involve both positive and negative aspects for sustainability (e.g., a high resilience can lock-in a system toward a path of short-term growth that is not beneficial for long-term development). For resilience, as a process, to become sustainable, there must be a transformative governance of resilience towards the positive normative ideals and principles of sustainable development (see European Environmental Agency, 2023). In this respect, key conceptual and theoretical approaches relevant to understanding transformational governance strategies relating to resilience include, for example, a just transition regime, coevolution, proactive adaptive capacity, good governance, and sustainable mobility governance.
In tourism, identifying and understanding the drivers of change is an important aspect in transitioning towards sustainability (Saarinen & Gill, 2019). This transition has become increasingly critical but also challenging due to the multitude of changes, shocks and related risks. These are estimated to be further intensified and expected to become ‘super-wicked’ in the future, forming complex polycrises that integrate myriad emergent crises, such as climate change, sixth mass extinction, financial insecurity, war and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, and global shifts in geopolitics, among others. In tourism geographies, this calls for critical thinking and nuanced discussion about the role and potential of tourism as a driver for development, and how it might help develop greater destination resiliency, and contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, and beyond.
This session aims to critically discuss wider notions of resilience and its relation to sustainability in tourism, and how to progress policy and practice toward the transformational governance of tourism towards sustainability, and in the context of the ongoing and intensifying polycrisis. The session welcomes both conceptual papers and empirical case studies.
If you are interested in participating in the session: Please send your abstract (max. 250 words) to Jarkko Saarinen ([email protected]) and Joseph Cheer ([email protected]) by October 24. We will swiftly notify the authors, giving participants time to submit before the present October 31 abstract deadline. Note: all accepted contributors will need to register for the conference (and provide their PIN to the session organizers to be added to the session). General information about the conference can be found here https://www.aag.org/events/aag2025/
It is anticipated that papers from this session will be invited to submit a full manuscript for consideration in a Special Issue in Tourism Geographies.
References
- Boschma, R. (2014). Towards an Evolutionary Perspective on Regional Resilience. Regional Studies, 49(5), 733–751.
- Calgaro, E., Lloyd, K., & Dominey-Howes, D. (2014). From vulnerability to transformation: A framework for assessing the vulnerability and resilience of tourism destinations. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(3), 341-360. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2013.826229
- Cheer, J. M., Milano, C., & Novelli, M. (2019). Tourism and community resilience in the Anthropocene: accentuating temporal overtourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(4), 554–572. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1578363
- Cheer, J. M., & Lew, A. A. (Eds.). (2017). Tourism, resilience and sustainability: Adapting to social, political and economic change. Routledge.
- European Environmental Agency (2023). Transformative resilience: the key to governing. Europe's sustainability transitions in the polycrisis. EEA Report, 10/2023.
- Derissen, S., Quaas, M-F., & Baumgärtner, S. (2011). The relationship between resilience and sustainability of ecological-economic systems. Ecological Economics, 70(6), 1121-1128.
- Folke, C. (2016). Resilience (Republished). Ecology and Society, 21(4):44
- Hall, C. M., Prayag, G., & Amore, A. (2017). Tourism and resilience: Individual, organisational and destination perspectives (Vol. 5). Channel View Publications.
- Lew, A. A., & Cheer, J. M. (Eds.). (2017). Tourism resilience and adaptation to environmental change: Definitions and frameworks. Routledge.
- Lew, A. A., Ng, P. T., Ni, C. cheng (Nickel), & Wu, T. chiung (Emily). (2015). Community sustainability and resilience: similarities, differences and indicators. Tourism Geographies, 18(1), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2015.1122664
- Lew, A. A. (2013). Scale, change and resilience in community tourism planning. Tourism Geographies, 16(1), 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2013.864325
- Saarinen, J. & A. M. Gill (Eds)(2019). Resilient Destinations: Governance Strategies in the Transition towards Sustainability in Tourism. Routledge.
AI and Big Data in Tourism and Hospitality: social media, spatially distributed data and data mining
Andrei P. Kirilenko (University of Florida)
[email protected]
The AI and Big Data revolution, which started during the past decade, brought new possibilities for decision-making and innovation based on novel data analysis methods. The field is highly fragmented, and the methods to analyze data are not firmly set, are still evolving, and are very fluid. However, in tourism and hospitality, the following common key areas and methods emerge:
- Large Language Models (ChatGPT, BERT, LLAMA, etc.) in tourism applications
- Analysis of social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and similar platforms), online customer reviews, tourist experiences reported online, and other user-generated content. Involves network analysis, data mining, and analysis of texts, photographs, video, and audio.
- Sentiment analysis: one of the most active research areas in natural language processing, web/social network mining, and text/multimedia data mining.
- Spatial data analysis and visualization with GIS. Includes mapping of tourist routes, travel photo locations, digital traces, and other spatially distributed social data.
- Physiological data in tourism and hospitality: heartbeat, GSR, pupil dilation, face expression, etc.
- Robotics in Tourism and Hospitality