Taking time out to travel is one of the defining activities enjoyed by members of modern affluent societies. As a corollary to the rise in travel for leisure, there has also been an increase in the number of “tourists with typewriters” (Holland and Huggan) who relate their encounters with other people, places and politics in various destinations around the globe. Naturally, studies of travel writing and tourism are therefore also on the increase and encompass not only the written text right across the genres, but also film and other visual representations that privilege the narratives of travel.

But what is travel? Travel is most often considered to be the journey, movement or displacement of a being or thing from one place to another. It is an action that implies covering a certain distance, usually on a spatial plane, unless otherwise identified as temporal or mental, spiritual or astral. Travelling therefore tends to describe ways of going from here to there, distinguishable places linked by an itinerary that traces the trajectory of the traveller through the sites to be visited according to a particular order.

Time travel is also, if not immediately possible, then at least foreseeable in an imaginary schema. Chronological displacement either backwards or forwards in time has been the inspiration for a wide range of fictional genres, from utopian literature to science fiction and fantasy. However, this type of exploration of time in relation to travel is only one of the aspects of time and travel that may be considered within the scope of this conference. Other manifestations of time in travel may focus on the role of time in the narrative process.

What happens between the time of travelling and the time of writing or recording the experience? How does the passage of time affect the accuracy and interpretation of events, places and people? This approach leads on to questions surrounding the interaction of time and memory in the travel account. Does the memory of the travel time distort the representation of people and places encountered? Is the veracity of the document impeded by filtered memories of the experience? After broaching the subject of accuracy and veracity, the very topical debate on truth in travel writing can also be envisaged in a temporal light. Can something that is true at one time become false at another time – like an out-of-date guidebook? Does truth have a use-by date? Of course, historical travel narratives bear the indelible print of times past in their narratives, as do pilgrimages, colonial and postcolonial texts.

Time is also of the essence in travel accounts with geopolitical or environmental orientations, and the popular phenomena of “slow” food and “slow” travel are perfect examples of how time has come to dominate over space in some travel texts. The applications for the theme of time in studies of travel writing and tourism are multiple and we hope that there will be many different disciplinary and critical approaches that will enrich the offerings at this conference.