bullet">Experiencing Sport and Leisure Tourism – meaning, memory, affect, identity, and mediated experience.

Local Development and Community Impacts – economies, labor, participation, governance, and inequality.

Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility – ecological impacts, climate pressures, and responsible practices.

Policy, Governance, and Future Pathways – regulation, planning, events, innovation, and alternative models.

Held in Brazil, where sport, leisure, and tourism are deeply interwoven with cultural life and international visibility, the conference foregrounds the tensions and possibilities embedded in sport and leisure tourism. Contributions may examine the impacts of mega-events and smaller-scale sporting and leisure initiatives; community-based and regional tourism development; destination branding and place-making; labor, inequality, and inclusion within tourism economies; environmental pressures and resource management; and the role of policy and governance in shaping sustainable tourism futures. The focus also encourages critical reflection on how tourism narratives and infrastructures affect local communities, cultures, and ecosystems over time.

Alongside the special focus, the Twelfth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies welcomes proposals aligned with its ongoing concerns, including leisure and everyday life; tourism cultures and mobilities; heritage, identity, and place; tourism education and professional practice; sustainability and responsible tourism; and the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of travel and leisure. Contributions may be theoretical, empirical, methodological, practice-based, or community-engaged, and may draw from disciplines such as sociology, geography, anthropology, economics, cultural studies, planning, and environmental studies.

Format

The conference is organised as a hybrid knowledge experience, integrating in-person and online participation within a unified scholarly environment. All accepted proposals become Presentation Pages, where presenters upload abstracts, media, and reflections, and where delegates can engage in discussion before, during, and after the event.

In-person sessions in Niterói are interwoven with live online presentations and asynchronous contributions within a single integrated program. Regardless of participation mode, all delegates have access to the full schedule, session media, and a growing digital archive. Across formats, the emphasis is on reciprocal, human-scale exchange—conversation, reflection, and collaborative inquiry rather than one-way presentation.

Publication Pathways

Presenters are invited to develop their conference contributions for possible publication in the journals associated with the Tourism & Leisure Studies Research Network, including The International Journal of Tourism and Leisure Studies, or in the Tourism & Leisure Studies Book Imprint, which publishes monographs and edited collections advancing interdisciplinary research on tourism and leisure.

Key dates

Early proposal period: Now - 13 November 2026
Early registration period: Now - 13 December 2026

For full details and submission guidelines, visit the conference website.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lívia Gonçalves Magalhães

Conference Chair, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Brazil

Dr. Carolin Lusby

Conference Chair, Florida International University, United States of America

Esmeralda Crespo Almendros

Research Network Chair, University of Granada, Spain

Ana Isabel Polo-Peña

Research Network Chair, University of Granada, Spain

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope

Chief Social Scientist, Common Ground Research Networks, United States of America

📣 CfP: 12th International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies