ISCONTOUR 2026

We are happy to inform you that ISCONTOUR 2026 will take place at the MCI Innsbruck, Austria

13. International Student Conference in Tourism Research (ISCONTOUR 2026)

Jointly organised by the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) and IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, the ISCONTOUR 2026 will be hosted at the MCI Innsbruck.

Research papers from the widest spectrum of the below mentioned topics are presented by students and graduates of Bachelor-, Master and Doctoral Degree programmes. Submitted papers must be based on approved Bachelor- or Master-Theses which were submitted between 2023 and 2025, or evaluated seminar papers handed-in between 2023 and 2025.

  • Paper submission deadline: 8 January 2026
  • Reviewers’ feedback: by 29 January 2026
  • Submission date for revised paper: 28 February 2026
  • Early bird conference registration closes: 30 April 2026
  • Conference registration closes: 10 April 2026
  • Conference dates: 11-12 May 2026

The best three submitted papers in the following categories will be awarded!

  • Best ISCONTOUR 2026 Research Paper
  • Best ISCONTOUR 2026 ICT-related Research Paper (sponsored by incert)

The awardees of the best research papers will be rewarded during the conference.

Paper Guidelines

Submissions must comprise 12 pages and should be innovative in order to advance the body of knowledge of the related fields. All submissions will be evaluated for novelty, significance and soundness by an international scientific review committee. The Conference Proceedings (printed copy) will include all accepted papers.

Before submitting a paper, please read the Author Guidelines carefully.

Topics to be covered at the conference include but are not limited to:

  • Marketing and Management
  • Destination Management
  • Family Businesses in Tourism
  • Tourism Product Development & Sustainability
  • Information and Communication Technologies
  • Financing and Budgeting
  • Human Resource Management

The conference offers students and graduates a unique platform to present their research and to establish a mutual knowledge transfer and networking forum for attendees from academia, industry, government and other organisations.

ISCONTOUR Testimonials

stefanie_bohacek_klein_2Stefanie Bohacek, best-ICT-related paper award winner, summarises her ISCONTOUR experience: „If you would have asked me half a year ago if I could imagine an academic career I would have most probably answered with ‘I don’t know.’ However, when my research paper got accepted by the ISCONTOUR committee and especially when it received the Best ICT Paper Award I realized that there might be an undiscovered strength and passion in me for research work. Now, that I could present my study – on which I spent a large amount of hours time and energy – I begun to understand how good it feels to talk about something that YOU created.”

The targeted audiences include international students, graduates, teachers and lecturers from the field of tourism and leisure management as well as companies and anyone interested in the conference topic areas.

Margit Kastner_kleinSenior Lecturer Dr Margit Kastner (Vienna University of Economics and Business), member of ISCONTOUR scientific committee, explains why professors and supervisors should encourage students to submit their research and participate in ISCONTOUR: “As a supervisor of many BA- and MA-theses I have often witnessed outstanding work of students left to collect dust. Innovative and useful work often is read by myself as the examiner only, which is a real shame. For this reason, I support the ISCONTOUR and also encourage my students to share the essence of their research with the world by submitting a paper to this conference. Students perceive it as a rewarding experience and a great opportunity to learn and to obtain interesting and valuable feedback on their research from reviewers as well as the crowd at the conference. Additional incentives to participate are the chance to listen to inspiring speakers, to engage in research workshops, and to network.”