Although tourism’s very existence depends on transport, most researchers in transportation and logistics show little interest in tourism and travel, and few tourism researchers focus on transport issues. Important new technological developments in transport – e.g. the invention of passenger trains and jet aircraft – have always provided significant opportunities for the tourist industry. At the same time, tourism also has a major impact on transport modes and networks through its ability to supply additional motivations for leisure and business travel. There is , therefore, a strong interdependence between tourism activities and transport systems, both of which have expanded at a large scale. However, this continued growth over many decades may be threatened in the near future by global factors such as climate change and security issues. The impact of transport on the environmental quality of destinations (e.g. noise and air pollution, damage to nature and landscapes) may increasingly set limits on tourism growth.

Integrated knowledge of transport and tourism is essential to develop destinations, tourism enterprises and effective tourism policies, and to cope with emerging local and global issues and conflicts. There are four sub-themes:

1. Global transport developments: air transport congestion, low cost carriers and regional airports, climate change, effects of oil prices (peak-oil), revival of (high-speed) rail, tourism flows, the cruise tourism boom, emerging transport technologies.
2. Transport and logistics at destinations: infrastructure, networks, accessibility, transport mode choice and mode shifts, route information, safety and security issues, logistics of goods and waste, transport-based tourist attractions, airports, railway stations, (mega-) events.
3. ICT in tourism and transport: e-ticketing, GPS applications, internet booking, video-conferencing, imagineering, electronic logistic support systems, ICT in transport network management and capacity planning, security systems, virtual travel.
4. Ethical issues and sustainable development: climate change, local transport induced environmental problems, pro-poor/community based tourism, cross-cultural and economic guest-host issues, voluntary tourism in developing countries.

Of course also papers dealing with other tourism research subjects than the main theme are most welcome at this conference.