ATLAS is the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research and is an academic and industry network with members in over 60 countries. This year the conference explored the theme: Quality of Life: Health, Tourism and Climate.

Aminah was one of only 8 PhD students representing Universities and Institutes from Finland, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and the UK, who presented on topics related to regenerative and sustainable tourism, well-being and included transformative experiences as a focus for tourism design.  This discussion was most informative especially in taking apart what the different definitions of sustainable tourism and regenerative tourism were.

Aminah Distan said of her conference attendance,

“it was quite an intensive and very informative experience; I met some wonderful people over the four days and was impressed by the level of research presented. The presentation I gave was more relevant than I thought it was going to be, in relation to the niche tourism and regenerative culture, community activism aspects too”.

Aminah Distan, who is currently pursuing a PhD in Tourism under the supervision of Dr Kevin Burns and Dr Daithi Kearney is a TUTF Scholarship Holder.