Category: Teachers & Academicians

The vineyard landscape of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato. Building a strategy of tourism valorisation and management

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała

The next SPOT study visit that will take place in Turin (Italy) between September 19 and 23, 2022, concerns the case study “vineyard landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato”, which is a territorial context modelled in the century by local communities in Southern Piedmont. In the past, this territory was poor and marginal, and over the latest years, it has become remarkably rich and with great potentialities for growth and development. This was possible in part thanks to the UNESCO candidacy process, that begun in the early 2000s. and to the inclusion of the area into the World Heritage List in 2014. This landscape was modelled for centuries by the local communities for the cultivation and production of excellent and certified wines. Situated in southern Piedmont and adjoining the Liguria Apennines, the vineyard landscape extends and counts 100 Municipalities where live about 300,000 inhabitants. It is far 90 minutes by car from Turin and 120 minutes from Milan.

The inscription into the World Heritage List list has increased the visibility of the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato as “living cultural landscape” all over the world, thanks to its cultural resources, both tangible and intangible, as well as natural features. At the same time, the area has suffered increasing challenges due to the growing exposition to tourism, as for instance transport congestion and difficult accessibility, uneven economic development, and deterioration of the natural and cultural heritage. Overall, spatial planning in the area is currently characterised by three main challenges:

  • The need to revise the Regional Territorial Plan (RTP) that, approved in 2011, did not include any reference to the UNESCO landscape of Piedmont Langhe-Roero and Monferrato. This activity should draw on the area’s cultural resources, both tangible and intangible, as well as on its natural and economic specificities. At the same time, it should tackle the challenges concerning tourism pressure in specific places where the media exposure is higher rather than the remaining municipalities of this territorial context.
  • The update of the General Regulatory Plans of the municipalities of the area to take into account the Regional Landscape Plan Guidelines (RLP). This issue is tightly connected to the one above, as both the RTP and the RLP are produced by the Region. In particular, the RLP is one of the main instruments through which spatial planning can tackle tourism issues, through the voluntary undertaking of its guidelines by the municipalities. In this sense, the Municipalities belonging to the UNESCO site must update their General Regulatory Plans according to guidelines specifically designed for the area.
  • The delivery on the ground of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and of the EU Programming 2021-2027, and how the actions promoted through the latter can contribute to valorise the tourism potential of the area in a synergic way, while at the same time acting to tackle the main challenges that the increase of tourism pressures brings along with them.
  • Linked to the above, to overcome the rather low institutional capacity of the small and medium municipalities of the area to efficiently and effectively deal with the unprecedented amount of resources, through the design of a strategic plan for territorial development aimed at their effective spatialisation.

Acknowledging the above challenges, during the workshop, students will be required to design a spatial development strategy aiming at the territorial development of the site, in which sustainable tourism plays the key role. The results of the workshop will be a set of policy messages and recommendations addressing local actors and stakeholders actively involved in the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, with the purpose of helping them in the envisioning of more sustainable policies and actions.

SPOT study visit to Italy is organised by Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) at Politecnico di Torino (POLITO). All project activities will be held between September 19 and 23, 2022 in Turin. However, one-day trip to the case study area of the southern part of Piedmont has been already planned.

Resilience planning of regions: Case of Alto Duoro Wine Region

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała

Resilience planning of regions is a main theme of research conducted by scientists from DIST – Politecnico di Torino. See the latest results published in the prestigious journal Science of the Total Environment by Vanessa Assumma and Marta Bottero contributing also to our SPOT project.

Case study: The Douro territory in Portugal. Administrative boundaries, landscape and cultural resources (Assumma et al., 2022)
Framework: Design of an integrated evaluation framework for resilience assessment and planning of wine regions (Assumma, 2021)

In the ongoing context of climate change, wine regions, particularly those designated as UNESCO cultural landscapes, are showing their attractiveness and vulnerabilities. Their value is exposed to losses, including the aesthetic, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions, thus an effective response is more than ever needed. Wine regions continuously evolve, respond, and adapt themselves according to both endogenous or exogenous perturbations, and therefore need of building sustainable, resilient, and circular scenarios.

Decision makers are increasing their attention on the role of multidimensional models to support effectively both planning and assessment processes.

Particularly, the development of integrated evaluation framework can address this achievement. On the one hand, Stakeholders Analysis can help the identification and prioritisation of the key players of the participatory process, Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) can define sets of indicators and calculate composite indices for assessing the current performance of wine region, whereas mathematical modelling can support the prediction of future transformation scenarios. On the other hand, scenario building tools can effectively help local actors and stakeholders to define shared policy recommendations of preservation, enhancement and management of wine regions, according to resiliency, sustainability and circularity, as well as UNESCO principles.

The research work is developed in a real case study, that is the Douro territory (Portugal), where the UNESCO cultural landscape “Alto Douro Wine Region” is located.

For more details about this research work, do not hesitate to read the following publications:

The Green Track Stop event “A Walk in the Woods…”

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała

Detailed information about the Green Track Stop event “A Walk in the Woods – citizen science for forests” can be found on the event webpage and on the Twitter account.

The Green Track Stop event “A Walk in the Woods – citizen science for forests”, organized on behalf of the vegetation group at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) as part of the EU GreenTrack campaign, has already started. We would like to invite all young European citizens to take part in this activity!

Contribute to the Green Track Stop initative! Go for a walk in the forest near your home, your school or your university any time between May 16 and May 22 and answer the questions provided in our short online survey. In this survey, we want to know what you think about the value of forests and what you expect from future forest management. The results from the survey will be evaluated and forwarded to the European Commission in form of a short report.

The Green Track Stop is also a citizen science campaign to build a database of geotagged forest photos for all of Europe! So don’t forget to take one (or several!) photo(s) with geotag enabled in your smartphone’s camera settings, while you are in the forest. You are invited to fill out the survey during or after your forest walk. It is available in 6 different languages:

Sessions of ITC2022. International Tourism Congress

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała

Sessions of ITC2022 have been already accepted. We would like to express our gratitude to all researchers who supported us with sessions’ proposals. When submitting an abstract, choose the session included in a programme of International Tourism Congress ITC2022:

  1. Recovering tourism financial sustainability
  2. Framing literary and film-induced tourism into a sustainable perspective
  3. Climate challenges of sustainable development of tourism
  4. Glocal the new mantra for sustainable destination recovery and rebranding
  5. Tourism-related entrepreneurship in rural areas
  6. Tourism and outdoor sports recreation
  7. Accessible, sustainable and smart tourism: challenges and good practices
  8. The potential of European regions for the sustainable development of cultural tourism
  9. Special interest tourism and experiential tourism based on sustainable practices
  10. Youth tourism and sustainability
  11. Ontological, epistemological and methodological foundations of tourism research
  12. Air transportation and tourism destinations: strategies and policies
  13. Human capital in tourism sector
  14. Current challenges of education in tourism and hospitality
  15. Challenges of sustainable tourism in Baltic Sea Region
  16. Internet and communication technologies in tourism studies

Proposed by:

Luís LIMA SANTOS (CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation; Polytechnic of Leiria)

Conceição GOMES (CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation; Polytechnic of Leiria)

Antonio PEREZ BRITO (Universidad de Yucatán; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

1. Recovering tourism financial sustainability

Background and aims: Considering that the main theme of the ITC2022 is sustainability, the topic of financial sustainability assumes special relevance, namely in the post-pandemic period. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects not only because of its length of time, but also because it limited and even prevented the mobility of people – which is fundamental to tourism.

On the other hand, the layoffs imposed on companies by the various governments led to a very significant reduction in their income, with the maintenance of some structural costs for long periods of time; the loss of liquidity and the lack of sustainability of companies jeopardised the survival of several tourism companies and led to the bankruptcy of many others.

A scenario of economic and financial recovery of tourism businesses will always depend on the capacity of managers to critically analyse the variables that influence the financial sustainability of businesses. These are reasons to invite researchers, academicians and professionals to discuss this topic presenting studies on sustainability in the main sub-sectors of tourism industry activities, namely:

  • tourism services and travel trade (e.g., tour operators, travel agents, tourist information centres),
  • hospitality (e.g., accommodation, restaurants and F&B),
  • adventure, attractions and ecotourism (e.g., heritage sites and theme, national, and wildlife parks),
  • recreation & entertainment,
  • sports, events and conferences,
  • transportation (e.g., airlines, car rental).

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Rita BALEIRO (CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation; University of Algarve)

Jacek KACZMAREK (University of Lodz)

2. Framing literary and film-induced tourism into a sustainable perspective

Background and aims: This session would be an excellent opportunity to invite contributions presenting conceptual, methodological and empirical advances on these two niches of cultural and heritage tourism in a sustainable perspective. The session aims at a solid interdisciplinary dialogue. It focuses on the development and research of literary tourism and film-induced tourism products and experiences that foster sustainable development of destinations and cultural heritage and examples of practices that endanger sustainability. Issues such as preservation, planning, strategies and partnerships at the tourist destinations would be discussed.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • literary tourism, film-induced tourism and sustainability: the visitors’ and the locals’ perspective,
  • literary and film-induced tourism: preservation, planning, strategies and partnerships,
  • comparative studies on literary and film-induced tourism,
  • case studies of literary and film-induced tourism,
  • community-based tourism, and literary and film-induced tourism,
  • consumption of literary places and film locations,
  • impacts of filmmaking and tourism on locations and communities,
  • literary and film-induced tourism: education and paving the way for future generations,
  • literary and film-induced tourism: authenticity and sustainability,
  • challenges for literary and film-induced tourism,
  • culturally sensitive literary and film-induced tourism.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Krzysztof BŁAŻEJCZYK (Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Friendly Space – Friendly Climate Foundation)

3. Climate challenges of sustainable development of tourism

Background and aims: Climate is one of the important factors of tourism activity. For many visitors, a good, fair climate is a key element of a satisfactory stay. Thus, tour organisers and managers of tourism centres must take into consideration several challenges related to actual and future climate. Thinking about sustainable tourism they have to prepare appropriate information regarding possible weather, climate extremes (like heat waves, heavy rains, strong winds etc.) and climate stress in tourists travelling from far destinations. The session will be an excellent place for discussion which climate information should be the most efficient in sustainable development of the tourism industry. We expect guest papers referring to both, current climate conditions and to future climate.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Anukrati SHARMA (University of Kota; Rajasthan ILD Skills University; International University of Tourism & Hospitality)

4. Glocal the new mantra for sustainable destination recovery and rebranding

Background and aims: Local communities play a crucial role in tourism development. They are considered legitimate and moral stakeholders in tourism development. To enhance the trust and confidence of locals in the tourism industry, it is important for the local community to be involved in policy and decision-making. The proposed session for ITC2022 will address issues and topics related to. The session will focus on the SDGs for sustainable tourism development. Meticulous observation of hidden opportunities and challenges for the involvement of the community in the tourism industry is seen in each topic. Participation of the local community in the tourism and hospitality industry benefits not only the local economy but also contributes to a society holistically.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • supporting local entrepreneurs and start-ups (local cuisine, local crafts, textiles, etc.),
  • critical thinking along with creativities and innovation for bringing all together with newness in curriculum designing and tourism education system,
  • participation of the community in tourism and hospitality (home stays, guesthouses, small hotels, tour guides, indigenous festivals),
  • local community and eco-tourism development,
  • addressing barriers to local community participation in tourism and hospitality,
  • participation of rural and village communities in tourism,
  • agriculture tourism as a possible new market post-pandemic,
  • sustainability through cultural preservation and local community,
  • harnessing the hidden talents of local people in tourism and hospitality.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Kate TORKINGTON (CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation; University of Algarve; TrELMA Project)

5. Tourism-related entrepreneurship in rural areas

Background and aims: This session proposes to bring together researchers working on tourism-related rural entrepreneurship in different socio-geographical contexts across Europe and throughout the world. The main aim of the session is to explore and compare how these types of entrepreneurial activities contribute to an impact on the sustainable development of rural spaces, including remote areas, sparsely populated areas and less-favoured areas. The rationale for this research interest is underpinned by the urgent need to rethink and rebuild tourism in a post-COVID-19 era, along with the current trend towards the increasing demand for and practice of tourism in rural areas. At the same time, entrepreneurship is seen as playing a potentially key role in the sustainable socio-economic development of rural areas, as long as all stakeholders (public and private enterprise, local populations and tourists themselves) work together to cooperate in this goal. Additionally, recent research in different geographical contexts is revealing the important role of inward migration (both national and international) in the development of tourism entrepreneurship in rural spaces that have previously been characterised by outward migration and population decline.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • how entrepreneurship is integrated into national and regional policies for sustainable rural development,
  • opportunities for and challenges of tourism entrepreneurial activity in remote and sparsely populated areas,
  • local actors and entrepreneurial activities in rural areas,
  • pro-rural migration and tourism entrepreneurship,
  • balancing business and lifestyle aspirations in rural tourism entrepreneurship,
  • theoretical, empirical and methodological foci on alternatives to growth- and market-orientations in tourism entrepreneurship,
  • investigations of the potential for and the impacts of tourism-related rural entrepreneurial practices as part of the phenomenon of lifestyle mobilities and migration.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Maria João FERREIRA CUSTÓDIO (University of Algarve)

Elsa Cristina SACRAMENTO PEREIRA (University of Algarve)

6. Tourism and outdoor sports recreation

Background and aims: This thematic area aims to discuss research developments and new insights related to tourism and outdoor sports recreation, encompassing theoretical and empirical essays. The presentation and discussion of methodologies and results in each or through different destinations scales (from local to global) and stakeholders’ perspectives are encouraged. This is an area of knowledge where the tourism strategies and markets are constantly moving, namely due to its close connection with sustainable development in its several dimensions: natural, social, and economic phenomena. The practice of sport activities in nature can constitute a means to fulfil the desire to travel and recreation associated with memorable and authentic experiences. In this context, the discussion should cover different perspectives of tourism and outdoor sport recreation considering the “Sport Tourism and Development Goals (SDGs)” from UNWTO, i.e., how tourism and outdoor sport recreation can contribute to territory sustainability, peace, economic development, nature preservation and social inclusion, among other critical aspects included in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • outdoor sport recreation marketing and communication,
  • outdoor sports recreation and tourism sustainability,
  • tourism experiences in outdoor sports recreation,
  • branding strategies in outdoor sports recreation,
  • outdoor sports recreation products,
  • outdoor sport recreation impacts,
  • outdoor sport recreation events.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Eugénia DEVILE (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Andreia MOURA (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Alina ZAJADACZ (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan; GeoLabTur. Geographical Laboratory of Tourism)

7. Accessible, sustainable and smart tourism: challenges and good practices

Background and aims: Accessible tourism (also known as access tourism, universal tourism, inclusive tourism, tourism for all, and barrier-free tourism) is adapted to the needs of all people with disabilities or not, including those with mobility, hearing, sight, cognitive, or intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, with temporary disabilities, older persons and families with children.

Tourism can play an important role to create a more inclusive society. This depends on the adoption of new approaches and strategies to promote the accessibility of tourism services around all the tourism value chain, based on sustainable tourism principles. Although there is increasing interest in this field, research is still scarce and limited. The pandemic period increased digitization and social exclusion, a reality that strengthens the need to rethink social innovation mechanisms, such as the access to tourism practice. Accessibility and sustainability encourage the academic discussion on the importance of thinking of tourism as a relevant dimension of the modern society, which is still inaccessible to a major part of the population.

Thus, this session seeks to foster the debate around tourism in accessible, sustainable and smart contexts, to stimulate and explore emerging paradigms of value and knowledge co-creation in the marketplace that will lay the foundations for new tourism ecosystems. In sum, the goal of this session is to provide a forum for focused discussions on different approaches that could enhance the articulation between sustainable, smart and accessible tourism.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • theoretical issues of accessible tourism,
  • sustainable accessible tourism in practice,
  • limitations, barriers, challenges in the development of accessible tourism,
  • smart accessible destinations,
  • accessible tourism market,
  • travel constraints faced by people with special needs,
  • travel behaviour of people with special needs,
  • accessibility of tourism supply,
  • good practices in destinations for everyone,
  • smart destinations and accessible tourism,
  • social tourism,
  • innovation and marketing concerning special needs,
  • human resources and accessible tourism,
  • ethics and social responsibility in accessible tourism.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Krzysztof JANC (University of Wroclaw; H2020 Project SPOT)

8. The potential of European regions for the sustainable development of cultural tourism

Background and aims: Cultural tourism is constantly evolving, changing its face, from communing with and getting to know the high culture to experiencing the ‘everyday culture’ of visited destinations. Today it is not only exploring popular cultural resources, mainly historical sites, and museums but also experiencing intangible heritage. The transformation of cultural tourism will continue due to changing lifestyles, evolving forms of culture, and traditional and digital innovations. Cultural tourism will also face many challenges, including a very important aspect of its sustainable development.

The session intends to discuss a new approach to understanding and addressing cultural tourism and promote the development of disadvantaged areas. We also would like to exchange experience on the role of cultural tourism in creating place-based identities and how these link to broader processes of regional and European culture. We welcome both theoretical and empirical papers that offer new perspectives and/or evidence of cultural tourism.

The session “The potential of European regions for the sustainable development of cultural tourism” is co-hosted by the Horizon2020 project SPOT. Social and innovative Platform On cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • enrichment of the scientific evidence base for understanding cultural tourism,
  • good practices in the cultural heritage field including cultural, environmental, and social development responses to the challenges of sustainability,
  • cross-border cooperation, regional and local cooperation, both to avoid overpressure of cultural tourism and to promote its sustainable development,
  • demonstrating ways in which cultural tourism can be used to develop social and economic cohesion,
  • developing a greater understanding of the different challenges facing contrasting types of cultural tourism in European countries.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Catarina MARTINS (Instituto Politécnico de Bragança)

Dália LIBERATO (Polytechnic of Porto)

Vitor AMBRÓSIO (Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies)

Pedro LIBERATO (Polytechnic of Porto)

Bruno SOUSA (Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave)

9. Special interest tourism and experiential tourism based on sustainable practices

Background and aims: Special interest tourism and experiential tourism have been a topic of debate in past decades, but it still is one of the most current topics of investigation. The importance of those types of tourism stems from the acknowledgment of increasingly higher levels of customization of tourism experiences driven by specific interests of individuals and groups. It is expected that tourism engages visitors in authentic, memorable travel activities, revealed over time, that engage the senses, are inherently personal and make connections on a physical, emotional, religious, spiritual, intellectual, or social level, based on innovative and sustainable practices.

Tourism has the potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals and this is a major focus on tourism research. From Eco-tourism, to olive oil tourism to astro-tourism there are several examples on how niche markets can put sustainability in practice. In fact, tourism resources produce niche tourism products developed in a sustainable approach to benefit local communities.

Nature based tourism also includes touristic products that can be classified as special interest tourism and an ongoing research on integrating tourism and sustainability must be promoted. In fact, developing touristic products through sustainability guidelines promotes development and prevents nature based tourism and other types of tourism niche markets to damage sociocultural and natural environments. Furthermore, both special interest tourism and experiential tourism encompass the different products that can be promoted through the roots of sustainability particularly in rural and sometimes remote areas. Tourism has been considered a driver for economic development in many rural peripheral areas where mass tourism has no place. Niche tourism products can promote the development of these regions since they can be community based and the discussion around this topic must also be promoted.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • special interest tourism,
  • experiential tourism,
  • nature-based tourism,
  • astro-tourism,
  • eco-tourism,
  • creative tourism,
  • event tourism,
  • food tourism,
  • educational tourism,
  • health and wellness tourism,
  • adventure tourism,
  • religious tourism,
  • religious and spiritual tourism experience,
  • olive-oil tourism,
  • drivers of experience co-creation in food-and-wine tourism
  • development of tourism in small regions,
  • emotion and storytelling,
  • experiential authenticity,
  • innovation and value-creation in the experience-based tourism,
  • photographic tourism,
  • slow tourism experiences,
  • slum tourism,
  • dark tourism,
  • tourists’ memorable hotel experiences,
  • urban tourism experience.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Márcio RIBEIRO MARTINS (Instituto Politécnico de Bragança)

10. Youth tourism and sustainability

Background and aims: In recent decades the world has experienced accelerated demographic growth that has led to the largest generation of young people in the history of humanity. According to UNWTO, youth is recognized as a major force for development and social change, with the potential to drive sustainable development in tourism. Before COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young travellers had already reached 336 million, accounting for 23% of international arrivals and being responsible for 333 billion US dollars in tourism receipts.

Youth tourism includes all independent trips undertaken by people aged 16-29 which are motivated by a desire to experience other cultures, build life experience, and/or benefit from formal and informal learning opportunities. Considering their rapid growth as well as its social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts, youth tourism is an increasingly important market. As described by UNWTO, youth travel is high value and resilient. Young travellers are recognized for attracting other visitors to the destinations and for spending their money directly with local communities, making an important contribution to other industries.

Young generations are also considered to be an important stakeholder in the efforts of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly Goal 8 on economic growth and jobs, and Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production as they can lead a transformation into a more responsible way of travelling.

Youth has the power to change the world and the recent youth-led movements fighting global warming and climate change are excellent examples of the persuasive power and influence that young people have in the current globalised society. All this potential can and should be used to support a more sustainable tourism, directly involving young people in the discussions and actions related to the future of tourism. For youth, travel is not just a way to discover other places. It is also a form of learning, meeting other people and exploring other cultures and host communities in a more sustainable way.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • youth and sustainable tourism,
  • millennial and generation z markets,
  • backpackers, flashpackers and other subsegments,
  • voluntourism,
  • working holiday makers,
  • post-COVID-19 changes in youth tourism,
  • new products in youth tourism,
  • tourism development and planning,
  • digital marketing applied to youth market,
  • destination marketing applied to youth market,
  • hostels and low-cost accommodations,
  • youth tourism and resilience,
  • information and communication technologies in the hospitality and youth tourism industry.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Leszek BUTOWSKI (University of Lodz)

11. Ontological, epistemological and methodological foundations of tourism research

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • The issue of ontology (or ontologies) of tourism: Is there actually such a thing as a tourism reality? If so, what is its mode of existence? What entities constitute the domain of tourism? What is their ontological status? How are these entities formed and what are their characteristics? How do they exist in the world?
  • The issue of tourism epistemology: Is the reality of tourism knowable at all? If so, to what extent is this reality knowable? What is the epistemic status of knowledge about tourism?
  • The methodological perspective of studies on tourism: What are the methodological approaches applied in tourism studies? -multi, -inter, -cross, -trans disciplinary methodologies in tourism research; How to interpret qualitative and quantitative data – is it possible to construct a common foundation for both types?

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

António ALMEIDA (University of Madeira; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Susana TELES (University of Madeira; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Vânia COSTA (Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

12. Air transportation and tourism destinations: strategies and policies

Background and aims: The sharp growth of tourism since 1960 is one of the agents responsible for the significant increase in demand for different modes of transport in Europe, including, naturally, passenger air transport. The choice of means of transport will be based on the duration of the trip, the number of people in the group, the income available for the trip, the availability of seats by the carrier and the flexibility of the means of transport.

Cooper, Fletcher, Gilbert and Wanhill (1993) consider that travelling by air was probably the most important transport innovation of the 20th century. Since the first commercial aircraft entered service, air transport has facilitated globalisation. With air transport, it became possible to move passengers in the shortest period of time ever, and consequently, there was an increase in demand for long-distance trips.

The air transport sector is significant for tourism, both growing in parallel terms, constituting two interdependent segments. Any changes made to aviation policy will have an impact on the evolution of tourism, either adversely or beneficially.

The fast developments taking place in the air transportation industry require a careful understanding of the trends and strategies implemented by the various agents involved in the industry. Moreover, there is a need to stimulate and design new policies reshaping the industry. A wide range of topics with policy implications may be covered, including but not limited to airline economics and policy (pricing, network, subsidies and ownership), airport economics and policy (ownership, investment, pricing), environmental policy issues (including carbon tax, emission trading), airline and intermodal competition, merger and alliances, as well as regulation and open sky agreements.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • air transport and the development of tourist destinations,
  • air transportation and regional economic development,
  • airline network analysis,
  • sustainability in air transportation,
  • airline economics and policy,
  • airport economics and policy,
  • air transportation governance, economics and policy,
  • air transportation system performance measurement and management,
  • economic and cost/benefit analyses to support modernization.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Vânia COSTA (Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Andreia MOURA (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

Maria do Rosário MIRA (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

13. Human capital in tourism sector

Background and aims: The global economy, based on knowledge and technological evolution, has brought new challenges of competitive differentiation to organisations, particularly organisations based in services providing, such has the tourism industry.

Tourism counts with the human resources as a competitive advantage to the organisations since it influences the quality of the final product presented to the tourists as well as to the satisfaction and loyalty of the customers of the different tourist destinations. The qualifications of the human resources of the tourism sector are fundamental for the development and planning of the different tourist destinations, and the vocational training and development of professional skills but especially personal and/or behavioural skills are key factors that allow the elevation of the level of competitiveness and sustainability of destinations, responding this way to the constant evolution of the demands of tourists and the tourist market. Organisations should invest in the qualification of their workers, through education and vocational training according to sustainable interests and objectives.

In this sense, the improvement of skills of the workers, both professional and personal, are key factors for the development and planning of more sustainable tourism destinations as well as the global improvement of competitiveness and quality of the sector and also allows to respond to the evolution of the labour market and the demands of more sustainability concerned tourists.

We invite contributions and different perspectives that focus on the trends and challenges of the tourism sector, that allow better educational planning to address destination sustainability.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • profile of human capital in tourism,
  • tourism human resources management,
  • trends and skill needs in tourism,
  • intellectual capital in tourism,
  • tourism human resources and tourism education,
  • tourism business curriculum.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Goretti SILVA (Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo)

Justyna MOKRAS-GRABOWSKA (University of Lodz)

14. Current challenges of education in tourism and hospitality

Background and aims: Increasingly, tourism education at all levels and for all types of jobs requires qualifications and training that can equip future and current employees with adaptable, agile and resilient skills to meet the rapidly changing needs and trends of the tourism industry. This involves not only the acquisition of new skills, but also lifelong education and ongoing reskilling and retraining.

The future of tourism education poses many challenges aimed at meeting the needs of the industry. The education system requires the adoption of strategies that support a holistic approach where the focus is on building more universal and transversal skills and competences that are used at any hierarchical level, position or sub-sector of tourism. Digitalization offers numerous opportunities to improve training and provide access to new jobs; and support for the sustainability agenda should be seen as a key subject in all courses promoting social equity, from staff to service, community and customers, as well as more efficient management of resources.

On the other hand, it is increasingly evident that the supply of higher education courses in Tourism should adopt more active methodological and pedagogical approaches, student-centred and in greater articulation with the industry that promote the acquisition of key skills for employability by young professionals.

This session therefore aims to present cases, share experiences in which the focus is on the adoption and testing of methodological approaches and their results in the stimulation and development of key skills of tourism students.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • tourism education system,
  • opportunities and challenges for tomorrow tourism education,
  • tourism curriculum,
  • international tourism education,
  • tourism education challenges and futures,
  • sustainable tourism education,
  • creative didactics methods and interactive education in tourism,
  • tourism higher education curriculums review,
  • field work educational aspects.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Anette OXENSWÄRDH (Uppsala University; NST. Network for Sustainable Tourism)

15. Challenges of sustainable tourism in Baltic Sea Region

Background and aims: Identification of recent challenges of sustainable tourism in Baltic Sea Region requires an evolutionary approach with particular focus on environmental, economic, social and political issues. The history of centrally governed economies and totalitarian regimes of former Soviet republics and dependent on Soviet Russia countries significantly influenced the whole region, its inhabitants, and their social behaviours including tourism and travels. Thus, discussion on sustainable tourism in BSR requires better understanding of political, economic, social, and cultural processes shaping attitudes, needs and behaviours of people living in the region, especially in eastern part of the BSR which covers the countries directly witnessing the process of economic transition during the last thirty years.

The need to protect the natural beauty of rural landscape and outstanding rural traditions of BSR territories, sustainable tourism and all related concepts like ecotourism, transformative tourism, nature-based tourism, agritourism, are seen recently as a significant factor determining sustainable development of rural areas in countries of the BSR.

Climate change is expected to significantly transform tourism in coastal areas of the BSR. Discussion on future change of structure and size of tourism flows within the BSR, and to the BSR is needed. On the one hand, due to increase of temperature in the regions of the North, increase of domestic and inbound summer tourism is expected in the BSR. On the other hand, due to the same reasons, the willingness of inhabitants of the BSR countries to travel out of the region during the summer period might be significantly reduced. In consequence, an increase of intraregional tourism in the BSR seems very probable. Climate change followed by change of size and structure of tourism flows significantly induce the economy, including the tourism sector, in coastal areas of the BSR. As climate change might result in an extension of the high summer season in the BSR countries, mass tourism might become a more serious problem than ever before. On the other hand, the need for sustainable alternatives out of the summer season is still vital.

Finally, sustainable tourism in BSR should be discussed from a governmental perspective. More than twenty years of intensifying cooperation between countries of BSR resulted in strong integration within this macro-region compared to other European Union territories. Recently, BSR is identified as the very first macro-region of the European Union to implement a transnational strategy of development aiming tourism as a priority.

The session “Challenges of sustainable tourism in Baltic Sea Region” is co-hosted by The Baltic University Programme.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • understanding and practising sustainability by stakeholders of tourism in BSR,
  • environmental impacts of tourism, and on tourism development in BSR,
  • sustainable tourism development paths in BSR,
  • significance of interregional tourism in BSR in times of crisis events.

List of sessions…

Proposed by:

Maciej ADAMIAK (ReasonField Lab)

Tomasz NAPIERAŁA (University of Lodz; CiTUR. Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation)

16. Internet and communication technologies in tourism studies

Background and aims: The rapid development of information and communication technologies, mobile technologies, and geographic information systems is widely evidenced. From the scientific point of view, internetization and technological development resulting in unprecedented possibilities for conducting more precise and comprehensive research on tourist phenomena. There is increasing use of the Internet, including social media, both by tourism enterprises and tourists willing to leave virtual traces of their tourist activity, e.g. in the form of online ratings and reviews, videos or photos of places or attractions visited, location and mobility sensor data and more. As a result, new opportunities and challenges have arisen in assessing the consumed spatial services or even evaluating the geographical space attractiveness of destinations which is highly important, especially for tourism.

The Internet, electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) mainly facilitated the development of overwhelming resources of tourist-generated content. Tourists share and seek experience. Thus, the eWOM solved the main issue of inexperienced tourism demand – the lack of valuable and trustable information about the characteristics of services offered in tourist destinations. It needs to be underlined that the role of eWOM might be considered both from a supply perspective (destinations or tourism companies) and from the customer perspective. Analysing large quantities of tourist-generated content requires a big-data approach, including techniques and methodologies. Recently, the achievements of machine learning – one of the most significant IT studies – should be emphasised.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • the role of electronic word-of-mouth communication (eWOM) in tourism,
  • empirical evidence of big data and machine learning application in tourism studies,
  • spatial data science for assessment of the attractiveness of tourism space,
  • ethical, legal, and technological issues of using data from social media channels.

List of sessions…

Programme of study visit to Portugal and local seminar

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała
Baleal Beach
Baleal Beach
ESTM
ESTM Auditorium
ESTM Workshop Room
ESTM

All activities are presented in Portuguese time zone (GMT+1). Students and academicians are requested to take own laptops. ESTM means School of Tourism and Maritime Technology, Polytechnic of Leiria. You might also download the programme of the study visit to Portugal as a PDF file, and the programme of the local seminar (PDF file).

May 9, 2022, Monday, Study visit Day 1

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
10:40Departure from the hotelStar Inn Hotel
11:00 – 11:30Campus tourESTM
11:30 – 12:00Welcome speechesJoão Paulo Jorge (Polytechnic of Leiria)
Luís Lima Santos (CiTUR Leiria)
Tomasz Napierała (University of Lodz)
Sérgio Leandro (Dean of School of Tourism and Maritime Technology)		ESTM Auditorium
12:00 – 13:00LunchESTM Canteen
13:00 – 13:30Assignment of the task7-8 groups of students (each of 5-6 students from 5 different universities)
Each group will be supported by an instructor		ESTM Workshop Room
13:30 – 15:30Workshop: QGIS and web-mapping for case study analysisMarta Nalej (University of Lodz)ESTM Workshop Room
15:30 – 15:45Break
15:45 – 17:45Workshop: Challenges of Europeanisation from different perspectivesKrzysztof Janc (University of Wroclaw)ESTM Workshop Room
Project meetingTomasz Napierała (University of Lodz)(tbc)
17:45 – 18:00Break
18:00 – 19:00Lecture: Baleal Beach case studyJoão Paulo Jorge / Fernanda Oliveira (Polytechnic of Leiria)ESTM Workshop Room
19:15Bus leaves for the hotelESTM Car Parking Area

May 10, 2022, Tuesday, Study visit Day 2

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
08:45Departure from the hotelStar Inn Hotel
09:30 – 11:00Óbidos
11:30 – 12:30Praya d’el Rey
13:00 – 14:30Lunch breakFree timeBaleal Beach
14:30 – 15:30Baleal Beach site studyESTM TeamBaleal Beach
16:15 – 17:15“Locals talking” – Table discussion with local stakeholdersLocal stakeholders from Baleal BeachESTM Workshop Room
17:30Bus leaves for the hotelESTM Car Parking Area

May 11, 2022, Wednesday, Study visit Day 3

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
08:40Departure from the hotelStar Inn Hotel
09:00 – 11.00Workshop: Scientific report writingEven Tjørve (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences) / Tomasz Napierała (University of Lodz)ESTM Workshop Room
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:45Workshop: Stakeholder analysis. Round IKatarzyna Leśniewska-Napierała / Marta Nalej (University of Lodz)ESTM Workshop Room
12:45 – 13:45Lunch breakESTM Canteen
13:45 – 15:15Workshop: Stakeholder analysis. Round IIKatarzyna Leśniewska-Napierała / Marta Nalej (University of Lodz)ESTM Workshop Room
15:15 – 15:30Break
15:30 – 17:30Workshop: How to support decision making effectivelyVanessa Assumma (Politecnico di Torino)ESTM Workshop Room
17:45Bus leaves for the hotelESTM Car Parking Area
20:00Social dinnerStar Inn Hotel

May 12, 2022, Thursday, Study visit Day 4

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
08:40Departure from the hotelStar Inn Hotel
09:00 – 12:00Workshop: Writing actionable policy recommendationsDenis Cerić / Konrad Czapiewski / Marcin Mazur (Polish Academy of Sciences)ESTM Workshop Room
12:00-13:00Lunch break
13:00 – 17:15Students’ group studies7-8 groups of students (each of 5-6 students from 5 different universities)
Each group will be supported by an instructor		ESTM Workshop Room
17:30Bus leaves for the hotelESTM Car Parking Area
18:00Facultative students’ group studiesTo be agreed and organized by students

May 13, 2022, Friday, Local seminar

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
08:40Departure from the hotelStar Inn Hotel
09:00 – 09:15Welcome speechJoão Paulo Jorge (Polytechnic of Leiria)ESTM Workshop Room
09:15 – 09:30Idea of SPOT projectTomasz Napierała / Katarzyna Leśniewska-Napierała (University of Lodz)ESTM Workshop Room
09:30 – 11:00Students’ presentation. Round I15 minutes presentation and 5 minutes of discussion for each of 3-4 groupsESTM Workshop Room
11:00 – 11:15Break
11:15 – 12:45Students’ presentation. Round II15 minutes presentation and 5 minutes of discussion for each of 3-4 groupsESTM Workshop Room
12:45 – 13:45Lunch breakESTM Canteen

May 13, 2022, Friday, Study visit Day 5

TimeActivityPresenter(s)Venue
13:45 – 14:45Evaluation of educational effectiveness of teaching on the spotInstructors (2 per group) will conduct focus with each of students’ groupESTM Workshop Room
14:45 – 15:15Summary of the study visit to PortugalESTM Workshop Room
15:30Bus leaves for the hotelESTM Car Parking Area

MapoFaktura 2022 – Geographical data analysis for tourism and crisis management

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała
Number of commune’s inhabitants per 1 tourism accommodation facility.
Location of tourism accommodation facilities and Euclidean distance from railway and bus stations.
Number of commune’s inhabitants per 1 residential social facility.
Location of residential social facilities and Euclidean distance from railway and bus stations.
Number of pharmacy stores in walking distance from tourism accommodation facilities.

Crisis mapping

Recent cartography and spatial data analysis are completely different to the periods before mobile technologies dominance. Web-mapping 2.0 is up-to-date, advanced in technology on the one hand, and inclusive and participatory on the other hand. Everyone can be a professional cartographer. Two contexts of web-mapping 2.0 are important from the perspective of crisis management: map mashups and crisis mapping. Map mashups allow to collect, assess, geocode, integrate, and disseminate spatial data related to crisis events through one application, e.g.: https://dopomoha.pl/en/. Crisis mapping is about editing maps to evidences the impacts of crisis events, and also about crisis management. The last mentioned context was the particular focus of MapoFaktura 2022.

From the perspective of tourism, crisis events have mainly negative consequences. Any serious crisis like COVID-19 pandemic (already investigated by the team of SPOT project) or Russian invasion of Ukraine results in tremendous decrease of travels and hits negatively performances of the tourism industry. However, many actions involving tourism industry might solve some negative consequences of crises, and in consequence reduce the negative impacts of crises on tourism enterprises. It is worth to be mentioned that during pandemic times hotel facilities were used to accommodate medicine doctors or people quarantined. Recently, we are witnessing large flows of refugees coming from Ukraine. Accommodation facilities are considered to host migrants temporarily until they found permanent house and job. MapoFaktura 2022 aimed to analyse the territorial capacity of the region of Lodz to host refugees, mainly by using tourism accommodation facilities.

The event of MapoFaktura 2022

On April 1, 2022, the achievements of MapoFaktura 2022 workshops have been presented as a part of GeoNight initiative. The event was organized by the students of tourism and recreation programme at the University of Lodz, Faculty of Geographical Sciences. Project ‘SPOT. Sustainable Spatial Planning of Tourism Destinations’ was the proud partner of the event. The idea of MapoFaktura was created by the students of the course on social media in tourism offered by assist. prof. Tomasz Napierała. This was the third edition of this spectacular event. This year, participants got to know how to edit, process, and use spatial data for crisis management. MapoFaktura2022, including both workshops and online presentation, attracted 41 persons including 28 women, and 13 men. For more information visit the fan page of MapoFaktura on Facebook.

MapoFaktura2022 has created the new opportunities to train future professionals of tourism industry. The problem of crisis management has been considered as a respond to recent geopolitical and socio-economic situation. Brand new and already cooperating partners were involved in MapoFaktura project. The event was organized by the students of tourism and recreation programme at the University of Lodz, Faculty of Geographical Sciences. Partners were: Project ‘SPOT. Sustainable Spatial Planning of Tourism Destinations’, SoftwareMill, Association OpenStreetMap Poland, Commission of Tourism Geography of Polish Geographical Society, and Lodz Tourism Organisation. Merit issues were consulted with prof. Przemysław Śleszyński from Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation of Polish Academy of Sciences.

     

Workshops organized on March 26, 2022 were the main part of MapoFaktura 2022. Workshops included for main thematic panels: contributing to the OpenStreetMap project, accessing to OpenStreetMap database, analysis of spatial data and applying spatial data for crisis management. During the workshops students learned how to cocreate OpenStreetMap. They got to know how effectively use both spatial data sources (OpenStreetMap), and programming tools (Python, Overpass Turbo, and Google Colab). Students edited maps in QGIS application and discussed content of that maps. Students were informed how to support strategic decisions by geographical analysis already prepared.

During the workshops the focus of participants was on most important aspects of crisis management. Responding to rapid increase of migration flows of Ukrainians evidenced since the beginning of Russian invasion over Ukraine, MapoFaktura 2022 aimed the estimation of territorial capacity to host migrants in the region of Lodz. The research area was analysed according to possibility of accommodating migrants in tourism facilities as well as entities of social care. The territorial capacity to host migrants in the region of Lodz was investigated from the perspective of needs of local populations and communication accessibility of discussed infrastructure. The following indicators were estimated: average number of citizens to one tourism accommodation facility or to one entity of social care. Distances from abovementioned tourism entities to transportation hubs were estimated. The numbers of pharmacy stores, facilities of healthcare and social care located in the walking distance from analysed entities ready to host migrants were counted. Based on abovementioned analysis, students found that areas most convenient for hosting migrants are: the most populated cities of a region – Lodz and Piotrków Trybunalski, counties’ capitals of the area along Pilica river – Opoczno and Tomaszów Mazowiecki, area of the communes associated in the initiative called ‘Centralny Łuk Turystyczny’, and Łowicz and neighbouring communes.

Photo story of MapoFaktura workshops

Norwegian mountain destination and second-home planning; sustainable or out of control?

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała
Many places in the Norwegian mountain second-home developments has taken over much of the upper forest band, as here close to Skei ski resort.
Old times summer farming at Skei.
New times alpine skiing at Skei.
The old summer-farm area is being completely transformed.
The Skei mountain destination used to have two hotels and a large lodge. Today only one hotel remains, only open during the winter season.
It all started as summer tourism. The first hotel, “Gausdal Sanatorium” was erected in the middle of the summer-farm area and opened in 1876.
The Skei destination has about 2500 second homes and there are planes for more than a doubling of that number.

Ever growing second-home agglomerations engulf nearly every Norwegian ski resort, or mountain destination, with numerous metastases of new second-home fields spreading into pristine nature. The economic gravitational point of the ski resort has shifted from hotels and lodges to second-home tourism. The sales of plots and building of second homes has become the most important income source of outside capital in many local communities. At the same time, more critical voices are heard, both in the media and in the literature, questioning the sustainability, claiming that the planning is out of control. A main focus of the SPOT project in Norway will be to study legislation and planning practices as well as the discourses of governments and society.

Norway is the country in the world with the highest number of second homes per capita, more than 90 per 1000 inhabitants, only rivalled by Finland, which has similar numbers. Large second-home agglomerations continue to spread throughout the upper forest band, especially along south-west facing slopes, radiation out from the main ski resorts. The largest villages have many thousands second homes, up to 8000 in one destination alone. Consequently, the dominating mode of accommodation at the ski resorts and mountain destinations has moved from hotels and lodges to private second homes, with more than 150.000 second homes in the mountain region of southern Norway alone. The second-home dwellers have become the main market for the building of new ski lifts, activity providers, restaurants, bars and stores for shopping, which all need more space.

This development is further stimulated by a recent neoliberal trend in the physical planning tradition, where more of the planning is done by private developers and less by the governments and their administrations. The resulting piece-by-piece planning has not only caused increasingly negative consequences for nature and the environment and loss of nature and loss of access to and quality of nature for the tourist, but also unforeseen needs for infrastructure, with both economic and environmental consequences.

At one destination in Norway, Skei destination (which serves a one of the cases for the SPOT project), after a soaring number of new second-homes the local municipality is now faced with an acute water shortage, where there is not enough water for the snow cannons on the alpine slopes. The Gausdal municipality has only two fishing lakes in these mountains, and to large protests from landowners, farmers and other locals, they have suggested the expropriation of one of the two lakes and turn it into a water reservoir. This will end recreational fishing and transform a large part of the mountain area most used by tourist and locals.

As most of the mountain destinations, the Skei ski resort started off as a summer farm area. The farming resources were restricted in the valleys, and the grass had to be used for haymaking. Therefore, the people in the valley took their livestock up to their summer farms so that they could pasture there. Still today, cattle and sheep are grazing here, but now often between the thousands of second homes sprawling out over the summer-farm areas. The farmers have retained their right to pasture, but the second-home population is gradually becoming more hostile to this practice. Consequently, the mountains as a food-producing resource is under pressure.

If interested in the topic, do not hesitate to approach our Norwegian team directly.

When SPOT meets SPOT: Workshop on challenges of Europeanization from different perspectives

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała

Do you know that there are two SPOT projects running on right now? Meet the other one: SPOT (Social and innovative Platform On cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation). This is 3 years EU-funded project under the Horizon 2020 programme, focused on the study of problems related to cultural tourism. The consortium is composed of 15 partners from 14 European countries and Israel.

SPOT project aims to develop a new approach to understanding and addressing cultural tourism and to promote the development of disadvantaged areas. Specifically, it will identify different layers of data and capitalise on existing practice. It will explore emerging forms of cultural tourism, identifying opportunities and developing strategies to allow local people to gain benefit from their precious cultural assets. SPOT will engage academics and stakeholders in the development of policy proposals and generalise lessons learnt through an Innovation Tool to assist policymakers and practitioners. One of the objectives of this tool (SPOT-IT) is to assist in considerations of policy and financial interventions to support initiatives in remote and deprived areas based on their contribution to Europeanization as well as investing in high cost infrastructure.

The workshop on challenges of Europeanization from different perspectives will be the contribution of SPOT to SPOT, held in Peniche (Portugal) during the study visit scheduled on May 2022. During the workshop we will try to look at the idea of Europeanisation, discuss it and refer to experiences (examples) from particular countries. Of course we will try to pay attention to the relation between this idea and tourism (tourist resources).

The workshop will be conducted by Krzysztof Janc. He is an associated professor in the Institute of Geography and Regional Development; graduated in socio-economic geography (University of Wrocław). His fields of expertise are local and regional development, internet studies. He has participated in many applied research projects for national and regional ministries and agencies as well as in European projects concerning knowledge transfer, spatial differentiation of educational potential and digital geography. He is a member of several expert groups, including Committee for Spatial Economy and Regional Planning, European Rural Development Network, Commission for Rural Areas the Polish Geographical Society.

Meet Hnat, our Ukrainian colleague

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała
Hnat

Meet Hnat Sumyshyn, Ukrainian student of the Faculty of Geographical Sciences at University of Lodz in Poland. Now, he is a master student of spatial planning and organisation programme and a member of the students’ community of the project ‘SPOT. Sustainable Spatial Planning of Tourism Destinations’. He also participated in our study visit to Turkey. In this terrible and uncertain time of military invasion of Russia against Ukraine we would like to share the story of Hnat and his opinion on the situation in his homeland.

Hnat grew up in Kyiv. After completing bachelor studies at the National University of Taras Shevchenko he moved to Poland. He wanted to make his dream of living a new life, in a new country, on his own rules come true. Hnat underlined that the language and culture of Poland and Ukraine are so similar. That makes the adaptation easy. And Lodz. From the perspective of a Ukrainian student, mundane things like costs of living really matter. Hnat also mentioned the attractiveness of the educational offer and social support of University of Lodz. From the perspective of an international student interested in geography and Geographical Information Systems in particular, the Faculty of Geographical Sciences at University of Lodz was the best choice.

All friends of Hnat know that he is an avid runner. We asked him about his hobby, and then realised that it is much more than a hobby. Hnat said: “I have been running for 3 years. From my perspective this is much more than just physical activity. It’s about lifestyle. (…) In these difficult times, running helps me relieve stress and explore myself for a while. And in general, I think a day without any sport activity is a day wasted.“

We asked Hnat about the current situation in Ukraine. Hnat found out what happened from his friend. After that, innumerable messages began to flow in. Hnat said: “I understood everything but didn’t believe it.” At the moment, Hnat is in constant contact with his parents in Kiev. For now, their situation is very difficult. Due to the risk of air raids they often spend the nights in the basement. Hnat feels safe in Poland, but his thoughts are always with his parents.

Hnat believes that declaring war on the Ukrainian people, which values their own freedom above all else, is a great mistake of Putin. He tells the Russians directly: “This is our land and no one wants you here! We will fight to the end! (…) Dear Russian mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, do you understand that your sons, husbands, grandchildren and brothers are going to certain and senseless death?” Hnat does not hide his gratitude to the Western countries for the decisive answer. And to the Poles he says directly: “You guys are great! I have seen how many of you are involved in fundraising and helping.“

We asked Hnat about any requests or suggestions to the community of the SPOT project regarding the recent situation in Ukraine. And the only thing was the truth. To tell the truth about Ukraine, the country which defends not only itself but the whole Europe, and European values. And those values are also the core values of our project.

Date and idea of study visit to Peniche in Portugal are already fixed

Posted on by Tomasz Napierała
ESTM – IPL – Peniche
Berlengas Island
Baleal Beach

Peniche is a coastal municipality located in the Oeste Region situated 80 kilometers north of Lisbon, being the most western city of continental Europe. It has 26,431 inhabitants in an area of 77.55 km2. The city was built on a rocky peninsula which was an island until the 17th century, becoming progressively linked to the mainland through silting processes until today.

Since ancient times Peniche has been an important fishing harbour. Besides fisheries, the economy of the Peniche municipality relies on industry (mainly in the food industry; canned and frozen fish), services and, in the last 20 years, have seen an enormous growth in tourism, largely linked to the beaches and the recreational and sports activities practiced there, namely surfing. Due to its geographical configuration (peninsula), Peniche is one of the best surfing locations in Europe. It has beaches and breaks facing three distinctly different wind and waves directions, making it a consistent and popular destination for surfers.

The revision process of the new Municipal Master Plan is currently underway and will soon enter the public discussion phase. This discussion is of great democratic importance as it allows citizens and stakeholders to actively participate in the management of the municipality through proposals and public debates.

One of the most important issues is related to the key tourist resources, namely the beaches and their sustainable planning and management. This will be the main focus of discussion during the study visit to Portugal by the various partners of the SPOT project, to be held in Peniche from 9 to 13 of May, 2022.

This study visit is organized by the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of the Polytechnic of Leiria (Portugal) and aims to involve the students from the various partners of SPOT project in the process of identify problems and present possible alternatives and solutions for some issues inherent to the planning process of a specific territorial unit (Baleal Beach and its surroundings). The main issues are related to environment and climate change impacts in coastal destinations and possible adaptation and mitigation measures to be adopted, in accordance with the municipal plan and other higher hierarchy plans, namely the Coastal Zone Management Plan of the region.

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