The Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality, International Conference (HTHIC) is an initiative of Frank Go, the late professor of Tourism Management at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and Karin Elgin-Nijhuis of consultancy Elgin & Co. in the Netherlands.

The conference focuses on the leading question: “How can tourism destinations succeed in attracting tourists while simultaneously engaging all stakeholders in the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage?”

Researchers, practitioners and policy makers are invited to share knowledge and experience on aspects of preservation, (re-)presentation, promotion, profit (in the sense of benefits for all involved) and purpose (contributing to the well-being of all involved – humans and non-humans).

We belief that paying attention to each and all of these four pillars is required to preserve heritage thanks to and despite tourism and to realise our purpose: the co-creation of thriving tourism destinations and flourishing places.

HTHIC seeks to to advance our knowledge of the dynamics between heritage, tourism and well-being by bridging theory and practice and fostering a holistic approach.

The conference has proven to be of great value to researchers, practitioners and policy makers working in tourism, heritage, hospitality, geography, archaeology, architecture and related fields. It has inspired research agendas and resulted in fruitful partnerships and publications.

HTHIC2014 (Istanbul, Turkey), HTHIC2015 (Amsterdam, Netherlands), HTHIC2017 (Pori, Finland) and HTHIC2020 (Mendrisio, Switzerland) were/are possible thanks to partnerships with and contributions from a wide variety of public and private organisations, such as destination management and marketing organisations (DMOs), ministries of tourism, city governments, economic development agencies, technology providers, cultural and heritage organisations, and universities (of applied sciences).

Each conference offers besides presentations of research results and interesting cases, ‘Special Sessions on Location’: meetings between conference participants and local heritage curators that aim to educate and assist eachother.