RC50 – THE RESEARCH COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TOURISM OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Interest in Tourism Research has vastly grown over the last 30 years. Tourism, which until the 1970s was not a topic for investigative research in sociological studies, is nowadays rightly considered a constitution of contemporary society and a sort of seismograph of the social world.
The rise of sociological studies in tourism is indissolubly bound to the genesis of the Research Committee on International Tourism of the International Sociological Association. Since 1990 the ISA World Congresses in Madrid, Bielefeld, Montreal and Brisbane (2002) and the interim conferences have marked important stages of development and evolution in the sector, which would all be inconceivable if separated from ISA and RC50 membership. Names like Marie-Françoise Lanfant, Graham Dann, Nelson Graburn are emblematic of these sucessful efforts and progress.
The Research Committee 50 represents a forum for scholars of sociology, anthropology, psychology, leisure studies, geography, cultural studies, and humanities in general, in a multi-disciplinary project.
The Committee guarantees a number of organised meetings, and continuous dialogue (conferences, interim conferences, debates and discussions on various subjects, newsletters, links to other Committees and other associations).
The next planned events are an (extra) interim symposium in Wageningen, The Netherlands, on 9 and 10 June 2005 and participation in the XVI ISA World Congress in 2006 in Durban, South Africa.
The Committee is, without exaggeration, a kind of backbone and reference point to a large well organised structure. Hence the importance of maintaining and expanding on our levels of achievement. It is for this reason that scholars who are interested in subjects related to tourism are warmly invited to contribute to the scientific discussion in the sector by joining the RC50 Committee of the ISA.