Upcoming events

• Friday, 20 February 2026. Study day: ‘Towards a geohistory of tourism and heritage: approaches, concepts, methods’, Paris Institute of Geography.

With the support of the EIREST Laboratory at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, directed by Prof. Maria GRAVARI-BARBAS, and the Swiss National Science Foundation Research Programme ‘Faire le Monde – Premiers tours du monde touristiques (1869-1914)’ directed by Prof. Jean-François STASZAK (University of Geneva).

This study day aims to understand what it means to ‘make’ a geohistory of tourism and heritage, highlighting the value of a cross-disciplinary approach between the spatial and temporal dimensions of these two phenomena. Rather than considering them separately, it proposes to analyse their interrelationship over time, showing how tourism contributes to the construction, promotion and transformation of heritage, and how heritage, in turn, influences tourism practices, imaginaries and dynamics. This reflection is based on a critical analysis of the methods, theories and concepts used by researchers to understand the joint evolution of tourism and heritage as spatial, social, economic and cultural phenomena, their role in the dynamics of globalisation, the transformation of power relations, and changes in societies and environments.

The geohistory of tourism and heritage is an approach that remains relatively unexplored in the scientific field. Although a geohistory of the development of tourism in places – particularly cultural heritage sites – emerged in the 2000s, theoretical work and syntheses that structure and unify knowledge on this approach remain rare. While heritage has gradually been studied as a factor in tourist attractiveness and territorial development, the effects of tourism on the construction, transformation and recognition of heritage have, on the other hand, been much less analysed from a diachronic perspective. This study day aims to fill this gap by highlighting innovative and interdisciplinary perspectives, combining history, geography, social sciences and analysis of tourism and heritage practices.

(detailed programme for the day can be downloaded below)

Organising committee:

- François JEANDILLOU, PhD student, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (EIREST Laboratory), University of Bologna (Department of Economics)

- Laura SAYSANAVONGPHET, PhD student, University of Geneva (Department of Geography and Environment), Université Côte d'Azur (CTELA Laboratory)

• 27 june 2026. Conference : "Japan, tourist world tours and globetrotters – from the Meiji period (1868-1912) to 1970", Sophia University, Tokyo. 

International conference co-organized by Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture, The University of Osaka, University of Geneva Geography Department, University of Turin Department of Humanities. 

Scientific Committee: Sonia FAVI (University of Turin); Yorimitsu HASHIMOTO (The University of Osaka); Noriko MURAI (Sophia University); Raphaël PIERONI (HEAD Genève/University of Geneva); Jean-François STASZAK (University of Geneva).