Call for Papers
Conference : "When cruising is the destination. Tourist imaginaries of roads, railways, waterways and airways", Paris, 17-19 june 2027.
Scientific Committee : Maria Gravari-Barbas (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University/EIREST), Jean-François Staszak (University of Geneva).
The 7th symposium on tourism imagery invites us to consider the imagery of travel (as opposed to that of destinations), emphasising transport as an essential element of the tourism experience.
Cruises, road trips, caravan journeys and trips on certain legendary trains, both past and present, have a particularly strong appeal, giving travel and means of transport the leading role in the tourist experience and sometimes pushing the destination into the background. Even if these are not “travels for nowhere” and even if we hope to arrive at a destination at the end, relationships and encounters, intrigues and pleasures, and inconveniences unfold in these moving scenes (love scenes in The Love Boat, crime scenes in the Orient Express) that are modes of transport. More commonly, long-haul tourist flights, boat or yacht cruises, and caravan itineraries play a decisive role in the general imagination of travel.
Proposals are due by 15 September 2026. Authors are invited to send a 500-word abstract followed by a biographical note of no more than 250 words. Abstracts should be sent to and .