UC hosts international congress that brings academia and industry together to debate the sustainable future of tourism

Between 4 and 6 June, around 200 researchers and tourism professionals will gather at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) to discuss the future of tourism, with a strong focus on sustainability, at the international congress "Diversity & Sustainability – Opportunities and Threats on Tourism" (DSOTT’25).

The event features a varied programme, including four roundtables where speakers will address current challenges facing the tourism industry. There will also be sessions dedicated to sharing best practices for sustainability and discussions with journal editors on emerging research topics.

One of the sustainability-related projects to be highlighted during the congress is SHIFT Coimbra – COIMBRA Sustainable Tourism LLM Large Language Models applied to create better experiences for tourists and local communities, whilst supporting the development of a Sustainable Tourism Destination. Led by Coimbra City Council — in collaboration with the University of Coimbra — the project aims to establish the city as a more sustainable, intelligent and welcoming destination.

“This is one of the major tourism events in Portugal in 2025, bringing together academic and industry perspectives,” says Cláudia Seabra, a lecturer at FLUC and researcher at the Centre for Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), which is organising the event. “Following the success of the 2023 edition, we decided to bring the tourism community back to Coimbra to share ideas and best practices.”, she adds

The scientific meeting is jointly organised by FLUC, the Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning (CEGOT), Universidade Europeia [European University], the Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, and the Higher Institute of Administration and Management in Porto (ISAG)

The event has the institutional support of the Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services; Turismo de Portugal; Turismo Centro de Portugal; and several research centres: the Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation (CITUR), the Centre for Transdisciplinary Studies for Development (CETRAD), and the Centre for Research in Business Sciences and Tourism (CICET).

The full programme is available here.

^{Translation: Diana Taborda [DCM-UC]}