7th Consecutive International Tourism Research Conference (ITRC) – 22nd Oct.

The Students of the Tourism Study Programmes of the Department of Economics and the Alumni Association of Tourism Economics and Hospitality Management (AATHEM), Department of Economics, University of Colombo organized the 7^th Consecutive International Tourism Research Conference (ITRC) in parallel to the Official Celebration of UNWTO World Tourism Day in Sri Lanka on 22^nd Oct 2021 from 1:00 pm to 5:30pm (Sri Lankan Time) at the Department of Economics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The major objective of the ITRC was to provide a platform to discuss Evidenced-Based Research Findings with Global Best Practices which are more strategically instrumental for designing most required policy measures and strategic management applications to strengthen sustainable tourism development practices in Sri Lanka Tourism. The theme of the ITRC-2021 was “Resilience Building and Entrepreneurial Innovation for Sustainable Tourism Development”.

The ITRC-2021 can be considered as one of top best and prominent international conferences happening in Asia with the participation of highest numbers of eminent professors and outstanding researchers representing different parts of the world, more specifically from the universities and higher educational centers such as Griffith University in Australia, Monash University in Australia, Wakayama University in Japan, European University for Tourism in Italy, University of Toulouse in France, Catholic University in Taiwan, Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in UAE, Sejong University in Korea, University of Plymouth in UK, University of Kota in India, IITTM in India, University of South Pacific Republic of Fiji, Pondicherry University in India, University of Jakarta in Indonesia, Lusofona University in Portugal, Palermo University in Argentina, International University of Tourism and Hospitality in Kazakhstan, University of Western Cape in South Africa with the representation national universities of Sri Lanka such as University of Colombo, University of Sabaragamuwa, Open University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Technological Campus and so on.

At the end of this ITRC Conference there was a panel session on Evidenced Based Research Findings on Resilience Building and Entrepreneurial Innovation for Sustainable Tourism: Lessons Learned from Global Best Practices.

With the inauguration of ITRC-2021, two publications were released.