What does ATLAS do?

• ATLAS promotes links between member institutions through regular meetings and information exchange. The main activities of ATLAS are:
• Organising conferences on issues in tourism and leisure education and research. Regional conferences are also held in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region;
• Information services and publications, including the ATLAS website, member portal and the yearbook ATLAS Reflections;
• Designing and coordinating curriculum development projects under the SOCRATES programme;
• Running international courses, such as the ATLAS Winter University in Europe and the Summer Course in Asia;
• Organisation of and participation in transnational research projects, for example on cultural tourism and sustainable tourism, and information technology;
• Research publications and reports.

 

ATLAS is also represented at regional and local level by sections such as ATLAS Europe, ATLAS Asia-Pacific and ATLAS Africa. ATLAS Europe was founded in 1991, and still attracts the bulk of ATLAS members. Other sections are growing rapidly, however. ATLAS Asia-Pacific, established in 1997, currently has 70 members. ATLAS Asia-Pacific has staged conferences in Indonesia and China, Japan and New Zealand. ATLAS Africa was launched in 1998 and held its inaugural conference in 2000 in Mombasa Kenya and since then in Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. ATLAS Africa currently has 34 members. At the moment initiatives are taken to develop ATLAS Americas. The regional sections of ATLAS have developed their own programme of activities and publications to respond more closely to the specific needs of members located in these regions and those with related research interests. Membership of ATLAS regional associations and special interest sections of ATLAS is open to all ATLAS members.