ICPTR

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The Call for Contributions to the CABI publication, Tourism, Progress and Peace, listed
25 topics deemed relevant to the proposition that tourism can help in bringing about a more peaceful world (Table 1). The same list may be referred to by potential contributors to the new Journal of Tourism and Peace Research.

Table 1: Topics relevant to peace through tourism

Tourism and globalization
Ethical and responsible tourism
Tourism as a social force
Tourism and poverty alleviation/elimination
Industry initiatives
Peace museums
Attitude change
Travel writing (eg, the tourist as witness)
Reconciliation tourism
Diaspora tourism
Tourism and the media
Tourism and community development
Success stories and case studies Conflict and tourism
Tourism as a political force
International initiatives (eg, codes of ethics)
International cooperation
Festivals and events
Peace parks
Volunteer tourism
Tourism and human rights
Tourism borders
Cross-cultural behavior and understanding
Tourism ethics
Tourism and humanitarian relief

Why Europe needs an immigration strategy (Kofi A. Annan, 2004)
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One of the biggest tests for the enlarged European Union, in the years and decades to come, will be how it manages the challenge of immigration. If European societies rise to this challenge, immigration will enrich and strengthen them. If they fail to do so, the result may be declining living standards and social division.

The face of immigration and hospitality has changed, and so have its challenges and opportunities. There is no need for argumentation; a quick scan in the media shows the actual immigration-integration climate in major Western European countries, be it in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweeden, Switzerland, Norway, Greece, the UK, Austria or Belgium. Although there is much ado in some countries than others, the overwhelming climate and discourse is rather negative. This is what we hear, what we have become conditioned to hearing, and what we most often expected to hear:

Book cover Tourism Progress & Peace[1]
Edited by Omar Moufakkir and Ian Kelly

Tourism has the potential to contribute to world peace, and through appropriate management, to address current realities such as globalization, migration, conflicts, prejudices and poverty. By providing a range of international perspectives and case studies, this book discusses the interrelation between peace, conflict resolution and tourism, the role of industry and the role of the individual, and tourism as a catalyst for change and development. Exploring the ideas that there is more to peace than the absence of war and that there is more to tourism than economic interests, this book is the first of its kind and an essential resource for researchers, students and policymakers in tourism and related subjects.

Controversies in Tourism
Editors: Omar Moufakkir (Stenden University)
Peter Burns (University of Brighton)
Tourism is a dynamic global phenomenon: an agent of change and a significant factor in social, cultural, and technical evolution. Such evolution, especially those driven by tourism, are almost certainly followed by a variety of induced controversies. A look at the current spectrum of tourism studies illustrates the importance, timeliness, and even necessity to set these controversies out for serious debate beyond the simplicities of journalistic headlines. A critical analysis of the contexts, causes, and consequences is required. Failure to comprehend the basis of a tourism controversy may (more than not) produce myopic tourism development policies of the sort seen in countries ranging from Turkey to Kenya. Click to read more
call for proposals1

I am very pleased to publish the list of the editorial board members of the new journal -The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research. The selection was based on academics, scholars and researchers who have an interest in the topic and have written about it.

We are looking forward to your contributions for advancing our understanding of the tourism and peace propositions.

Omar Moufakkir,
Editor in-Chief
The Journal of Peace and Tourism Research
www.icptr.com
omar.moufakkir@stenden.com
(00)31-58 2441301

The interplay of perceptions, immigration, and travel propensity is a research note based on the research commissioned by Stenden University as part of its educational vision that resides in contributing to a better world. It was thus conceived as a strategy to strengthening existing ties between the Netherlands and Morocco through tourism…
a-research-note
(more about the book visit http://www.cabi.org/bk_BookDisplay.asp?PID=2096)

Adriaan joined the research group with an interest in youth ethnic minorities and integration in the Dutch society. Born in Leeuwarden, Fryslân / Netherlands, (1956) Adriaan Kolen developed an interest in intercultural exchange at a young age. As a 17 year old youth he joined the AFS intercultural exchange program, which enables people to act as responsible global citizens working for peace and understanding in a diverse world. Living in California he started a never ending quest for bridging cultural gaps. Next to an intercultural marriage, this led to many activities, privately and professionally. For many years he presided over the local AFS chapter in his home state, thus enabling many others to engage in intercultural experiences all over the world. Becoming an experienced traveller over the years, Adriaan constantly looks for ways to combine his passion and daily routine. A deep rooted interest in languages helped him to achieve teaching degrees in Dutch, German and DSL (Dutch as a second language). The latter enabled him to engage professionally in contacts with adult students from many different cultural backgrounds.

In an overcommunicated society, a borderless communication world, where physical borders have become obsolete in parts of Europe, but where perceptual borders have hardened, the quest for ways to soften cross-cultural unrest has become important and timely. Stereoptypes perpetuate misunderstanding and misconceptions, causing behavioral deseases that feed on prejudice, racism, and xenophobia. Terrorism, growing immigration, and home grown terror -and the why and how of all these and the rest-  have changed people’s behavior towards the others. If stereotypes represent only a minority of negative events and behaviors, what can make the majority “others” get rid of those unrelated yet prevalent steroptypes that are associated to them? Investigating prevalent sterotypes may lead to a sterotype diet. In this case a diet is the process of getting rid of what is useless or harmful, while keeping, augmenting, and even adopting what is useful and representative.

Role of tour guides in promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a research project supported by Stenden University. Its goal is to investigate the existing differences and similarities in the interpretive discourse of Israeli and Palestinian tour guides, with the hope of bridging historical, cultural, and geopolitical gaps, hoping to advance pragmatic and progressive recommendations that may contribute to a peaceful coexistance between the two peoples. It is hypothesised that tour guides have different interpretive discourses, thereby distorting the peace ideal of coexistence through their myopic interpretations of cultural and historical tourism sites in the region.

Please check back with us for the results. You may also communicate with us via the “community thread”. Comments and suggestions that can help us understand the complexity of the phenomenon of tour guiding in the region are most welcome.

Thank you note

First, I would like to start by saying thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you all for being here. Your presence honors our guests who have come from far to share with us. Your presence supports an idea, and an ideal. Your presence supports a member of the family, a friend, a colleague, or just somebody who, like millions of others, is trying to make a difference to make a better world for his family, for his friends, for his colleagues, and for people out there.