Research notes Conference Report: The Best Education Network Think Tank XIII: Engaging Communities in Sustainable Tourism Development, Taylors University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2013 Diem-Trinh Le-Klähn a,n , Deborah Edwards b a Department of Urban Structure and Transport Planning Technische, Universität München, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 München, Germany b Business School, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 222, Lindfield, NSW 2070, Australia article info Keywords: Conference report Community tourism Sustainable tourism abstract The BEST EN Education Network is a long established network which holds annual workshop in the field of sustainable tourism. This year the conference attracts numerous tourism researchers and experts in the three days extensive discussion on engaging communities in sustainable tourism development. This report summarises the presenta- tions and discussions at the conference. It highlights the key findings of the papers presented at the conference and emphasizes the framework for research and education on community tourism. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There are many conferences devoted to tourism and sustainability however the Building Excellence for Sustainable Tourism Education Network Think Tanks (BEST EN TT) have been proactively producing knowledge outcomes from their think tanks since its inception in 2001. Since its first Think Tank in 2001 in Bongoni, South Africa, BEST EN holds annual Think Tanks in different parts of the world in conjunction with universities where sustainable tourism is a focus of the research and teaching. BEST EN is currently chaired by Dr. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher, Dean of Department of Tourism and Service Management from MODUL University in Vienna, Austria and the executive committee comprises Professors from different universities from around the world. This report summarises the 13th Think Tank organised by BEST EN. BEST EN TTXIII was held at Taylor 0 s University 0 s Lakeside Campus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 23rd to the 26th of June, 2013. International tourism educators and researchers came together for extensive and fruitful discussion on engaging communities in sustainable tourism development over the three days conference. BEST EN Think Tanks are a combination of keynote addresses, presentations, workshops and social events. The various activities conducted at TTXIII are outlined below. 2. Keynote addresses The Think Tank began with welcoming words from the hosts at Taylor 0 s University, Dr. Perry Hobson and Dr. Paolo Mura, and from Dr. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher, Chair of the BEST EN. Delegates of the Think Tank were then introduced to Bernard Lane, founder and editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism who discussed the importance of consulting communities Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jhlste Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 1473-8376/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2013.12.003 n Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: diemtrinh.le@tum.de, diemtrinh.le@gmail.com (D.-T. Le-Klähn), Deborah.Edwards-1@uts.edu.au (D. Edwards). Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 14 (2014) 1–5