The third ITSA Conference was held at the Universiti-Teknologi Mara in Malaysia jointly organized with the 4th Malaysian Tourism Outlook Forum. The ITSA Secretariat in Beijing worked with a UiTM Conference Committee, headed by Dr. Nor’Ain Othman, Deputy Dean (Research & Industry Linkages) and under the overall guidance of Dean Azis Majid.

This was the first-ever ITSA Biannual Conference to be held outside of Mainland China and it was an unequivocal success thanks to the generous support and great organization by the Faculty of Hotel & Tourism Management at UiTM. Approximately 40 full-length papers were submitted and presented at the Conference, and the quality of research was very high. Two Best Paper Awards were given by ITSA; one to a graduate student researcher and another to faculty scholar:

• Moslem Ghasemi and Prof. Amran Hamzah (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia). An evaluation of the role and performance of NGOs in community-based ecotourism at Ulu Geroh, Gopeng, Malaysia. (Student Best Paper Award)
• Norliza Aminudin, Sofiah Abdul Rahman, and Nor’Ain Othman (Universiti Teknologi Mara). Establishing dimensions of country attractiveness for cross-border second homes. (Faculty Scholar Best Paper Award)

The keynote speakers at the Conference all made excellent and thought-provoking presentations. The keynotes were Dr. Roger Carter (UK), Fahmy Mubarak (Malaysia), Prof. Zhang Jie (China), Prof. Alastair Morrison (USA), and Dr. Irfan Sungkar (Indonesia)