6th Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU)
TOURbanISM-toURBANISM
Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona
January 25 2012 - January 27 2012
To strengthen the international collaboration in Urbanism, the International Forum on Urbanism develops international conferences to contribute to the international debate on Urbanism and to stimulate the exchange between academic and professional institutions. The sixth, entitled TOURbanISM-toURBANISM, will take place from January 25th to 27th, 2012, at the Catalonian Politechnic University (UPC) in Barcelona.
The conference aims to generate an exchange between the academic and the professional debate, to investigate opportunities and risks for the sustainable touristical development and to discuss visions, concepts and best practices. In this framework causes, reasons and dependencies of worldwide transformation processes will be analyzed and planning strategies and design concepts for a more sustainable development of tourism will be explored.
Deadline for abstracts submission JUNE 17th, 2011
ANNEX: List of current member institutions of IFoU:
TU Delft / Berlage Institute Rotterdam / IUA Venetia / UPC Barcelona / Tsinghua University Beijing / Beijing University of Technology / Taiwan University Taipei / National University of Singapore / Tarumanagara University Jakarta / Chinese University of HongKong / Tongjii University Shangai / University of Tokio / Seoul National University / Chonnam National University of Korea / National Cheng Kung University of Taiwan
Tourism is one of the leading global economic activities. According to the 2009 Edition of the “International Tourism Overview”, published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), its direct contribution to the global economy is estimated in 5%, ranging from 2% in the most developed countries to 10% in those that strongly rely on this sector. In 2008 global revenues generated by tourism, including transport of passengers, were about 3.000 million dollars, and its contribution to employment is estimated around 7% of the working population.
The amount of tourists has grown continuously since the middle of last century, from 25 million in 1950 to 922 in 2008. For 2020 the UNWTO foresees that the number of tourists will reach 1.600 million. Despite the changing trends that occurred from the second half of 2008 to the date, due to the global economic crisis (financial crisis, rising oil and raw materials prices, and sharp fluctuations in exchange rates) the sector growth has not ceased. In 2010 the UNWTO estimates a 4% increase in the number of tourists.
Over the last fifty years the global economy experienced several serious crisis and tourism has always proved to be a very strong economic sector. The current crisis has not significantly affected tourism. Consequently it has become the economic hope of many countries affected by the decline of economies based on raw materials or small profit industrial activities.
The map of the main tourism destinations has remained quite stable for many years. Europe is the largest and most mature destination in the world. 53% of tourists and 50% of revenues concentrate in this continent. The U.S. market (15.9% of tourists and 19.9% of revenues in 2008), that remains stable thanks to the domestic market, has been overtaken by Asia (20% of arrivals and 21,8% of revenues), that appears as an emerging area. Africa and Middle East are the two destinations with highest growth rates, although their absolute weight is relatively small.