The Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) and Universidade de Lisboa’s Territur research group hosted a seminar on ethics and tourism planning on 24 November. More than 20 scholars from IFT, Territur, and Portugal’s Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies attended the seminar.
The seminar covered topics including responsible tourism, ethics and social responsibility in tourism, and accessible and inclusive tourism.
As part of the seminar, IFT Visiting Professor Dr. John Ap delivered a presentation on sustainable tourism planning. He says the event as a whole helped participants get a variety of perspectives on tourism planning. “Ethics and social responsibility in tourism are critical issues when it comes to sustainability,” he states.
Other IFT scholars delivering presentations at the seminar included Dr. Sandeep Basnyat, who talked about ethics and social responsibilities in tourism; and Dr. Sharif Shams Imon, whose presentation was about the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and social responsibilities in tourism.
Territur is a research group on tourism, culture and planning and is part of the Centre of Geographical Studies at Universidade de Lisboa. The latter is also known as the University of Lisbon.
“Macao is becoming a leader in tourism in this part of the world,” says Portuguese scholar Dr. José Manuel Simões. “Since we were coming to Macao, IFT was a partner we wanted to exchange experiences with.”. Dr. Simões heads Territur. Dr. Simões says Portuguese cultural influences are a distinctive aspect of Macao, contributing to the competitiveness of the city’s tourism industry. “Tourism needs to promote the authenticity of places,” he states. “We need to innovate in tourism – and tourists want that – but by ensuring quality and preserving identity.”
Dr. Maria do Céu Almeida, from Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, was one of the scholars delivering a presentation at the seminar. Hers focused on risk and resilience in tourism. Dr. Almeida says that often tourism developments are located in areas exposed to, or likely to be exposed to, sudden-onset natural disasters. That makes effective risk prevention and management very important. “We can do a lot to prevent risks associated with natural disasters,” she says. Effective communication channels are important, in order to ensure everyone – including tourists that do not understand the local language – are aware of existing risks and can follow emergency guidelines, Dr. Almeida further notes.
Established in 1995, the Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao (IFT) offers the most extensive selection of tourism and hospitality related bachelor degree programmes in Macao, and about twenty thousand participants attend its vocational and professional training courses annually. IFT collaborates with 101 universities and tourism organisations around the world, and builds strong links with 500 leading tourism and hospitality corporations to offer internship opportunities to its students. In 2017, the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) becomes the first higher education institution to receive a successful International Quality Review(IQR) from the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). IFT has been ranked by the “QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017” as the 2nd best higher education institution in Asia in the field of hospitality and leisure management and the 18th best higher education institution in this field in the world. In addition, IFT has received the Medal of Merit in Tourism from the Macao SAR Government, and won twice the Gold Award in ‘Education and Training’ from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
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