''Engaging Communities in Sustainable Tourism Development'' - MU at BEST EN Think Tank XIII in Malaysia

This year’s BEST EN Think Tank XIII under the theme, "Engaging Communities in Sustainable Tourism Development", was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from June 23–26, 2013 at Taylor's University. The Think Tank is the annual gathering of The BEST Education Network, which is a long established international consortium of academics committed to furthering the development and dissemination of knowledge in the field of sustainable tourism.

Prof. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher and Researcher and Lecturer Tina Roenhovde Tiller attended along with academics from 22 universities in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North America. Dr. Lund-Durlacher is the chair of the BEST EN Network, and Ms. Tiller is the secretary, and both were instrumental in planning the event and making it run smoothly.

The Think Tank takes an interactive approach to gathering and sharing knowledge through various workshops and lectures, and then to disseminate it free of charge. At this Think Tank, Webinars were produced on the topic of Engaging Communities in Sustainable Tourism Development, which are available on the BEST EN website.

After days of presentations for international educators and scholars, the Best Paper was awarded to MU friend and collaborator Prof. Gianna Moscardo of James Cook University in Australia, and Ms. Andrea Schurmann, Ms. Elena Konovalov, both James Cook University, Australia and Dr. Nancy G. McGehee, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA for their paper”Using Tourism to Build Social Capital in Communities: New Pathways to Sustainable Tourism Futures”.

“The most exciting about the BEST EN Think Tank was that it provided an open space for academics with different ethnic and cultural background to discuss the topic of sustainable tourism development and bring in their different views and opinions reflecting their background into the discussion. It was a truly international multicultural discussion,” said Lund-Durlacher.

In addition to the main activities at the tropical Lakeside Campus of Taylor’s University in the Malaysian capital, participants had the chance to explore both the city and experience the countryside with a site visit to the Banghuris region encompassing three small villages known for agro tourism activities. 

Dr. Lund-Durlacher was very impressed with the university and the quality of education on offer at Taylor’s, and with Dr. Frederic Bouchon, Associate Dean, International Relations, Taylor's University, discussed extensively the possibility for further future collaboration in the form of staff exchanges and research projects to add to the student exchange possibility already in place.

The next Think Tank will be hosted by the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, from June 23-26th, 2014, where Tanja Mihalic and her team have already begun preparations!