“Transport and Mobility, Tourism: Degrowth, Decarbonation, Sustainable development?”

15th edition of the AsTRES Pluridisciplinary conference

Université Lumière Lyon 2 – Lyon – MSH Lyon-St Etienne – 24-27 Novembre 2026

In 1950, there were 25 million international tourists, compared to 1.5 billion in 2024, and this figure does not include domestic tourists. This impressive increase reflects progress and diversification in the field of transportation and mobility. Indeed, since the birth of the Grand Tour in the 17th century, transport has been fundamental, even indispensable, to the tourism sector (Tissot, 2006; Bigras, Dostaller, 2013; Gay, Mondou, 2017). People travel to reach their destination: transport is a means to an end (Bernier, Gauchon, 2006) and its services remain particularly discriminating. In addition, transport itself can be considered a form of tourism or even a destination (Stock, 2015): cycle tourism (Bertho-Lavenir, 1999), hiking (Riffaud, Le Roux, Perera, 2021), road trips, particularly in motorhomes, caravans, or campervans (Bourdeau, Marcotte, 2015), and river excursions (Damien, 2001). Tourism has helped to renew the usefulness of certain modes of transport that were no longer competitive: transatlantic liners were reinvested in by the cruise industry when air transport began to compete with them (Staszak, Pieroni, 2025), and certain trains have become legendary, such as the Orient Express (Marchi, 2008). Animal-based transportation has been revitalized by tourism, as demonstrated by hiking trips accompanied by donkeys, horses (Pickel-Chevalier, 2022), or sled dogs, promoting a slower and more environmentally friendly approach to travel. In this sense, they are of particular interest to anthropologists (Doquet, Evrad, 2008; Augé, 2009) since transportation influences our tourism practices. Between valuing slowness, making transportation the destination, or, on the contrary, valuing speed and the associated technical prowess to reach one's destination as quickly as possible without wasting time in transit, two different visions of tourist travel are now being defended, and even strongly opposed, as shown by flygskam, or shame of flying, and tagskryt, or pride in taking the train. There is a dual movement: mobility technologies have promoted tourism—think of charter flights—and tourism has stimulated and contributed to the profitability of certain forms of transport. Skiing, once a mode of transport, is now a tourist activity. Tourism has also driven innovation in transportation, particularly for ski resorts and mountain resorts: it was in these locations that elevators first appeared in large hotels (Tissot, 2004). Tourism-related goods are also on the move, whether they are tourist products made in China that travel around the world or food that we bring back from our travels; they are subject to specific legislation and have multiple impacts (economic, cultural, political) that should not be overlooked. Since the rise of digital telecommunications, mobility and transportation have been governed by algorithms designed to optimize our travel (Safaa, Oruezabala, Bidan, 2021). It is now almost impossible to get lost, as GPS has replaced maps, but this also raises ethical issues related to the tracking of personal data and even changes in tourism practices: what place is there for strolling (the figure of the walker, the city wanderer), for wasting time, for getting lost?

Transportation and its infrastructure—train stations, airports, highway rest areas, metro stations, tram stops, and bus shelters—can also be sources of tourist interest, as already studied by architects (Picon-Lefebvre, 2019), when they are preserved in situ (Ballot, 2024) – such as the Pont du Gard, a technical architectural structure and heritage site for tourists – or in a museum exhibition such as the one held at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, “Permis de conduire ?” (Driver's license?) in 2022-2023.

Tourism can fuel the communication strategy of certain groups, promoting them while obscuring certain more embarrassing aspects related to environmental destruction or colonial history, as shown by the example of the Michelin museum in Clermont-Ferrand, which makes no mention of the rubber plantations developed during the colonial era and the plundering that took place (Panthou and Tran Tu Binh, 2013). Tourism can be a convenient way to depoliticize the usefulness of certain transport projects, such as surveillance and military conquest in air and space museums, where technical prowess and rare space travel are particularly highlighted (Cohen, Spector, 2019).

The theme of interactions between transport, mobility, and tourism appears to be decisive on several levels. With transport being essential to the development of tourism, how are practices and analyses evolving around the decarbonization of transport, the relative democratization of transport, and tourist sites facing closure initiatives with approaches based on the carrying capacity of a place (Sugiton creeks, Venice, Canigou, etc.)?

For several years now, with the rise of the Mobility Turn (Flonneau, Guigueno, 2009; Baldasseroni, Faugier, Pelgrims, 2024), there has been a shift in focus towards users and uses, rather than just the technical objects that are the various types of transport, and towards promoting a multimodal approach rather than modal analysis. A debate is slowly emerging around “tourist mobility” (Guex, 2017; CEREMA, 2019; Tissot, 2023; Faugier, 2024; Faugier and Lucas, 2025). There is a greater emphasis on intermodality, reducing the need to transfer between two modes of transport, and multimodality, and tourism stakeholders are being called upon to decarbonize their travel with a view to sustainable development (Orsi, 2015; Simon, 2026).

With France's Mobility Orientation Law (LOM, 2019), the end of sales of combustion engine vehicles, the promotion of low-carbon transport, the rise of low-emission zones (LEZs) in urban areas, and the encouragement and development of mobility skills across an entire territory, such as an urban community, are prompting the redevelopment of tourist sites around access and accessibility, and the reorganization of traffic, particularly tourist coaches. This has sparked controversy over the carbon footprint of airplanes (Bazin, Cousin 2023) and, above all, cruise ships, although tourists' dependence on motor vehicles should also be questioned. The environmental approach is once again calling into question the boom in tourism (Hagimont, 2022). Questions are being raised about transport law with the advent of low-cost airlines and the Uberization of society (Bon-Garcin, Bernadet, Reinhard, 2010; Combe, 2019; Association des doctorants en droit public de l'Université de Lyon, 2023) and the increase in litigation, particularly around local urban planning, with ski resorts, for example (Sulpice, 2025). While there is such a thing as travel education (Peyvel, 2016 and 2019), it primarily involves transport education (Francon, 2001), which may need to be rethought in order to achieve sustainable tourism and a reduction in mobility (Berlan, Carbou, Teulières [eds.], 2022).

This need for a broader approach to studying the links between tourism and transportation is the focus of the 15th edition of the AsTRES international conference. The conference will draw on contributions from various disciplines (planning, geography, management, history, economics, sociology, urban planning) and on approaches from practitioners (tourism stakeholders, politicians, associations, etc.). Several avenues for reflection are open to us. Various issues could be addressed, such as:

-The impact of free transport on tourist mobility (Observatoire des villes du transport gratuit, 2022);

-Tourist sites through the prism of their accessibility (carrying capacity, QR codes, gates, etc.);

-The relationship between sustainable tourism and the democratization of transport;

-Developments in the accessibility of places for people with physical or mental disabilities (Perrin, Soulé, Boutroy, 2021)

-Developments in the legal frameworks surrounding the marketing and communication of transport and tourist mobility;

-The perception of transportation in relation to that of the tourism industry;

-The heritage status of transportation as a tourist product;

-The impact of accidents and acts of terrorism on tourist transportation;

-The relationship between tourists and residents in transportation and in their mobility practices;

-The consequences of transfers and intermodality on tourist journeys;

-The relationship between speed, acceleration, slowness, and travel in the perception of tourist travel (micro-adventures; slow tourism);

-The roles and influences of transport infrastructure (ports, airports, motorway service areas, bus stops, train stations, pedestrian zones, cycle paths, etc.);

-The beneficial and harmful effects of digital technology on tourist mobility;

-The successes and difficulties involved in reducing the carbon footprint of transport-related tourist offerings;

-The management of transport-related expenditure in tourist travel;

-Transport and tourist mobility policies;

-Teaching transport and mobility in university degrees related to tourism;

-The relationship between sport, transport, and tourism;

-Decarbonization of tourist transport;

-The decline in tourist mobility and the issue of greenwashing;

 

Références bibliographiques / bibliographical references :

Association des doctorants en droit public de l'Université de Lyon (dir.), Voyage et droit public, Mare & Martin, 2023.

Marc Augé, Pour une anthropologie de la mobilité, Paris, Payot & Rivages, 2009.

Louis Baldasseroni, Étienne Faugier, Claire Pelgrims (dir.), Histoire des transports et des mobilités en France, xix^e-xxi^e siècle, Paris, Armand Colin, 2022.

Pierre-Louis Ballot, « La patrimonialisation des lieux de transport » dans Jean-Baptiste Frétigny, Les transports et leurs lieux, Londres, ISTE Editions, 2024, p.259-279.

Garance Bazin, Saskia Cousin, « EN MODE AVION » L’emprise de la publicité et des influenceurs sur nos imaginaires du voyage », Greenpeace,Paris, Octobre 2023.

Aurélien Berlan, Guillaume Carbou, Laure Teulières (dir.), Greenwashing : manuel pour dépolluer le débat public, Paris, Seuil, 2022.

Xavier Bernier et Christophe Gauchon (dir.), Transports et tourisme, Cahiers de géographie, n^o 4, 2006.

Yvon Bigras et Isabelle Dostaler (dir.), dossier Tourisme et transport, Téoros. Revue de recherche en tourisme, vol. 32, n^o 2, 2013.

Isabelle Bon-Garcin, Maurice Bernadet, Yves Reinhard, Droit des transports, Paris, Précis Dalloz, 1ère éd. 2010

Laurent Bourdeau et Pascale Marcotte (dir.), Les routes touristiques, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2015.

Catherine Bertho-Lavenir, La roue et le stylo : comment nous sommes devenus touristes, Paris, Odile Jacob, 1999.

CEREMA, Connaître la mobilité touristique : Guide méthodologique pour la réalisation d’enquêtes, Bron, Cerema, 2019.

Erik Cohen, Sam Spector (eds.), Space Tourism. The Elusive Dream, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2019.

Emmanuel Combe, Le low cost, Paris, La Découverte, 2019.

Marie-Madeleine Damien, Le tourisme fluvial, Paris, PUF, 2001.

Anne Doquet et Olivier Evrard, « Tourisme, mobilités et altérités contemporaines », Civilisations, 57-1, 2008, https://shs.cairn.info/revue-civilisations-2008-1?lang=fr., consulté le 30/11/2025.

Etienne Faugier, Léopold Lucas, « Mobilités touristiques : état de l’art, expériences et enjeux », Mondes du tourisme, 26, 2025, https://journals.openedition.org/tourisme/7379, consulté le 30/11/2025.

Étienne Faugier, « Transports touristiques contre mobilités touristiques ? Démoder et dé-modaliser l’approche géohistorique du tourisme », Mondes du Tourisme, Carte blanche & perspectives, http://journals.openedition.org/tourisme/6868, consulté le 30 janvier 2025. 

Mathieu Flonneau, Vincent Guigueno (dir.), De l’histoire des transports à l’histoire de la mobilité ?, Rennes, PUR, 2009.

Marc Francon, Le guide vert Michelin : L'invention du tourisme culturel populaire, Paris, Economica, 2001.

Jean-Christophe Gay, Véronique Mondou, Tourisme & transport: deux siècles d'interactions, Paris, Bréal, 2017

Delphine Guex, Tourisme, mobilités et développement régional dans les Alpes Suisses : mise en scène et valeur territoriale : Montreux, Finhaut et Zermatt du XIXe siècle à nos jours, Lausanne, Editions Alphil Presses universitaires suisses, 2017.

Steve Hagimont, Pyrénées. Une histoire environnementale du tourisme (France-Espagne, XVIII^e-XXI^e siècle), Ceyzérieu, Champ Vallon, 2022.

Jean-Jacques Marchi, « Les chemins de fer touristiques : des « petits trains » singuliers et pluriels », Revue d’histoire des chemins de fer, 38, 2008, p.190-212.

Observatoire des villes du transport gratuit, La gratuité des transports. Une idée payante ?, Lormont, Le Bord de l’eau, 2022.

Francesco Orsi (dir.), Sustainable Transportation in Natural and Protected Areas, Londres-New York, Routledge, 2015.

Eric Panthou et Tran Tu Binh, Les plantations Michelin au Viêt Nam, Clermont-Ferrand, éditions La Galipote, 2013.

Claire Perrin, Bastien Soulé, Eric Boutroy, « Le fauteuil tout-terrain mono-roue : analyse sociologique d’une innovation technique et sociale favorisant une accessibilité partagée des espaces naturels », Téoros : Revue de recherche en tourisme, 40-1, 2021, https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/teoros/2021-v40-n1-teoros06503/1082996ar/, consulté le 12/12/2025.

Emmanuelle Peyvel (dir.), L’éducation au voyage. Pratiques touristiques et circulations des savoirs, Rennes, PUR, 2019.

Emmanuelle Peyvel, L'invitation au voyage : Géographie postcoloniale du tourisme domestique au Việt Nam, Lyon, ENS Editions, 2016.

Sylvine Pickel-Chevalier, Cheval, tourisme et patrimoine : les écoles européennes d’équitation de tradition, London, ISTE Editions, 2022.

Virginie Picon-Lefebvre, La fabrique du bonheur, Paris, Parenthèses, 2019.

Thomas Riffaud, Nathalie Le Roux, Eric Perera (dir.), Tourisme sportif : territoires et sociétés, Elya Éditions, 2021.

Larbi Safaa, Gwenaëlle Oruezabala and Marc Bidan, « Le tourisme à l’ère des technologies numériques », Téoros, 40-2 | 2021, http://journals.openedition.org/teoros/10710, consulté le 06/01/2026.

Anthony Simon, Le tourisme durable, Paris, Armand Colin, 2026.

Jean-François Staszak et Raphaël Pieroni (dir.), La manie des tours du monde : de Jules Verne aux premiers globetrotters, (catalogue d’exposition), Paris, Lienart, 2025.

Mathis Stock, « Habiter comme « faire avec l’espace ». Réflexions à partir des théories de la pratique », Annales de géographie, N° 704(4), p.424-441.

Oriane Sulpice, L'urbanisation des stations de ski face au juge administratif : Une plongée dans la fabrique de la jurisprudence en matière d'urbanisme, Paris, Mare & Martin, 2025.

Laurent Tissot, La Suisse se découvre. Trois siècles de tourisme en question (de 1730 à nos jours), Neuchâtel, Éditions Livreo-Alphil, 2023.

Laurent Tissot, « Développement des transports et tourisme : Quelles relations ? », Revue suisse d’histoire, 56, 2006, p. 31-37.

Laurent Tissot, « Le tourisme en Suisse ou l'avènement d'un modèle d'excellence (19e-20e siècles) », Le Globe. Revue genevoise de géographie, tome 144, 2004, p. 103-121.

 

Expected proposals:
Within the general framework of the conference as defined above, papers may address different scales, from local to international, and different case studies, ranging from monographs to comparisons, as well as offering more distanced, epistemological, or theoretical reflections.
If necessary, the conference will offer several videoconference sessions.

Submission of abstracts:
The abstract of approximately 800 words (excluding bibliography) may be written in English or French; please indicate the title (in bold), the name of the author and co-authors, if applicable, in capital letters, and their institutional affiliations (with an email address); The text of the abstract must contain an introduction presenting the subject of the paper, the theoretical framework in which it fits, the methodology, a discussion of the results, a few bibliographical references (maximum 10), and 5 keywords

Key Dates:
June 20, 2026: Deadline for abstract submission (see above)
July 13, 2026: Deadline for notification of acceptance/rejection by the scientific committee
November 9, 2026: Registration deadline

Publication: 
Following the conference, upon submission by the authors before January 31, 2027, a selection of chapters will be made for publication in a collective work by a scientific publisher 
Revue Espace 
Revue Mondes du tourisme 

Association Tourisme Recherche et Enseignement Supérieur (AsTRES)

Université Lumière Lyon 2

Pôle ville et mobilité, Université Lumière Lyon 2 

Association Passé-Présent-Mobilité (P2M)

Association Transport, Traffic and Mobility (T2M)

Association Rail et Histoire

ONLY Tourism

Aéroport de Lyon

Métropole de Lyon (en cours)

Région AURA (en cours)

Villes de Lyon et Villeurbanne (en cours)

Ancovar, Grenat (en cours)

Syltral/TCL (en cours)

 

Comité Scientifique du colloque/Scientific Committee for the Symposium:

Comité scientifique

Anthony Simon, Maître de conférences en géographie, LER, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Jacinthe Bessière, Professeure des universités en sociologie, CERTOP, Université Toulouse 2.

Caroline Blondy, Maîtresse de conférences en géographie, LIENSs, Université de la Rochelle.

Laurent Botti, Maître de conférences Habilité à Diriger les Recherches en sciences de gestion et du management, CRESEM, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia.

Sylvie Christofle, Maîtresse de conférences Habilité à Diriger les Recherches en géographie, ESPACE, Université Côte d’Azur.

Vincent Dropsy, Professeur des universités en sciences économiques, GDI-CETOP, Université de la Polynésie Française.

Nathalie Fabry, Professeure des universités Economie, Laboratoire DICEN-IDF, Université Gustave Eiffel

Etienne Faugier, Maître de conférences en histoire contemporaine, LER, Université Lyon2.

Florent Laroche, Maître de conférences en économie, LAET, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Christophe Gibout, Professeur des universités en Aménagement/Urbanisme, TVES, Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale.

Christophe Guibert, Professeur des universités en sociologie, Laboratoire « Espaces et Sociétés », Université d’Angers.

Sébastien Jacquot, Maître de conférences en géographie, Laboratoire IREST, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne

Marc Langenbach, Maître de conférences en géographie, PACTE, Université Grenoble Alpes.

Joseph Ngijol, Maître de conférences en sciences de gestion, laboratoire PRES, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

Sylvain Petit, Professeur des universités en sciences économiques, LARSH, Université Polytechnique Hauts de France.

Emmanuelle Peyvel, Maîtresse de conférences Habilité à Diriger les Recherches en géographie, EVS, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Virginie Picon-Lefebvre, Professeure des universités en Aménagement/Urbanisme, ENSA Paris-Belleville.

Bertrand Réau, Professeur du CNAM, Chaire Tourisme voyages et loisirs, CNAM

 

Comité d’Organisation du colloque /Organisation Committee for the Symposium:

Sabrina De Velder, PAST, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Etienne Faugier, MCF, LER, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Florent Laroche, MCF, LAET, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Nicolas Mourgeon, PAST, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Alexandra Narbonnet, PAST, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Emmanuelle Peyvel, MCF HDR, EVS, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Antoine Pin, Association Protect Our Winter (POW)

Maxence Ramon, Doctorant en histoire contemporaine, LARHRA

Anthony Simon, MCF, LER, Université Lumière Lyon 2

Les étudiants du Master 1 et 2 Management durable des territoires et des produits touristiques

Les étudiants de la Licence professionnelle guide-conférencier médiateur culturel

Les étudiants de la Licence professionnel Circuits courts, produits du terroir et gastronomie