Tourism Retail Management Conference
The 6th annual International Tourism Retail Management Conference (TRMC) provides an opportunity for tourism reseachers, graduate students and industry practitioners to exchange ideas, share perspectives, present studies, and explore their results and thoughts on Retailing and Tourism.
As in past years, TRMC 2024 will provide the opportunity for both established and emerging researchers as well as practitioners, to discuss new and emerging directions in research and practice in the field.
The scientific committee welcomes theoretical and empirical research contributions in the form of an abstract, a paper poster and/or a full paper that relate to the event’s overarching theme. Accepted abstracts and full papers will be published in a conference proceeding and scheduled for oral and poster presentations, conditional upon at least one of the submission authors registering on time. Full paper submissions will be eligible for Best Paper Awards.
What Now? What Next? The Future of Tourism Retailing
Building on past conference themes and insights, TRMC 2024 Conference will focus on:
> Changing consumer motivations and behaviours – when it comes to travel retail shopping, whether macro trends or at the national or regional level.
> ‘Retailtainment’ – as retailing is becoming combined with entertainment, and as some destinations shift their thinking from having a Central Business District (CBD) to a Central Experience District (CED).
> New technologies and retailing – the growing importance of e-commerce in travel retail, artificial intelligence (AI) and the arrival of virtual shopping for items in new e-travel retail spaces.
> Sustainability, culture and ethics – when it comes to the designing of products, packaging and stores, and ensuring items are sustainably, culturally appropriate and ethically produced.
> Creating a sense of place and product – developing exclusive items and local brands, storytelling and creating unique artisanal items that cannot be found at other destinations.
> Creating, managing and improving retail service interactions – between retailers and consumers during the purchasing of travel products and services, whether through travel agencies, in shops, hotels or restaurants, theme parks, museums etc.
Sub Themes
(1) Technology and tools that facilitate the decision-making of tourists – about where and when to shop.
(2) The changing nature of engagement – visual and virtual displays and merchandising.
(3) Gender, age and national differences – when it comes to travel shopping behaviour
(4) Big data collection – and the usage of analytics to drive profitability from travel retailing.
(5) Retail service management – how retailers are managing interactions with consumers (face-to-face, technology, etc).
(6) The changing travel retail landscape – high streets, malls, airports, out-of-town shopping and online spaces.
(7) Regulations for duty and tax-free shopping – government policies, borders, visas, permitted allowances and refunds.
(8) Physical and online travel agencies – the changing retailing environment and interactions facing the travel industry.
(9) The future of travel retailing – boom or bust (as currently being seen in some destinations such as San Francisco, USA).