The TOURSUS-EU proposal is designed to contribute to the definition of and the transition to a more sustainable model of tourism, which is one of the major issues of the EU. As a highly interdisciplinary project, TOURSUS-EU intends to introduce a new approach to measuring the impact of mass tourism on the economy and society, by analyzing data from important tourist destinations listed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites (Venice, Lisbon and Split). The proposal relies on the use of state-of-the-art knowledge and state-of-the-art analytical methods (Dynamic Panel Models, time series analysis, MultiCriteria Decision Analysis, and Big Data Analysis) to develop an innovative structured approach for the assessment and improvement of tourism sustainability. In particular, the project will allow for the quantitative evaluation of the effects of various factors on the negative developments in the tourism sector, as well as the assessment of the sustainable growth in tourism that will consider the negative effects that mass tourism generates. The expected results will be beneficial for both the scientific and the local community and will have an impact on the formation of management practices within tourist destinations, potentially to be adopted in other regions and tourist destinations in Europe and worldwide.

The global COVID-19 crisis triggered major changes across societies around the world disrupting the way we live and conduct business. Across Europe, the measures and restrictions enforced due to the pandemic have led to sudden changes in many paradigms paving the way for new business models and market exchanges. This dramatic disruption has accelerated some socio-economic trends, which were visible before the COVID-19 crisis, such as the adoption of sophisticated technology and data solutions to facilitate human-centered, people-smart, and sustainable operation models; the incorporation of sustainability and climate mitigation as non-negotiable principles of operating and doing businesses and last but not least, relying on smart data evidence-based solutions to guide decision making for optimal commercial and sustainability performance. The tourism industry is one of the global economic sectors that is most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated with its economic downturn, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation. UNWTO data states that the current crisis is responsible for a global fall in export revenues of between EUR 750-900 billion and a loss of direct jobs that could be between 100 and 200 million. With the fall in profits and lack of certainty for stable markets, the recovery shortly of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which according to UNWTO shoulder 80% of global tourism, is at stake. With lost revenues and subsequently, talent drain to other economic sectors, tourism SMEs face the need to adapt at a time of crisis with constraint capacities. Through the design of a dynamic technological solution (platform) for knowledge-transfer and experience exchange made available to a network of tourism SME clusters across six countries, this project will demonstrate how digitalization can accelerate innovation and uptake of new sustainability solutions in a sector that is built up mostly of small enterprises with limited resources for n...

This project, supported by Portugal 2020 funds, aims to support BRU-Iscte institutional capacities in submitting applications to European competitive funding, namely within the Horizon 2020 programme. With this support, BRU-Iscte has drafted a strategic plan for 2019-2022 with regards to the submission of applications to competitive European funding schemes in areas of key interest for BRU research activities.

Based on a series of rescue archaeology projects carried out in the Alentejo region to mitigate the archaeological impact of a number of public works, an integral project is proposed. The project aims to study the Recent Prehistory funerary practices in the low Alentejo region (Beja district) and build models to the diffusion of knowledge produced over non accessible (or totally dismantled) archaeological heritage, that has been establishing and empirical revolution in the Beja district, in the context of impact assessment projects developed by Redes Electricas Nacionais (REN) and Empresa de Desenvolvimento de Infraestruturas de Alqueva (EDIA). So, using a set of eight archaeological sites of particular scientific relevance, excavated in the context of impact assessment, we intent to address and understand death management practices in their diverse dimensions in the Guadiana basin in low Alentejo, from Late Neolithic to the Bronze Age and the contrasts and articulations established with the funerary solutions known in peripheral areas of Southwest Iberia. Resulting from discoveries and interventions occurred in the context of rescue Archaeology, the majority of the sites was partially or totally destroyed or became inaccessible after the mitigation processes. The project’s implementation strategy will consider a general parallel development of the different dimensions, in order to favor their interactions, but with the necessary adjustments related to specific goals and precedent needs. Archaeological research will address the study of funerary architectures, ritual practices concerning votive deposits, organization of funerary space in articulation with the anthropological approach to human osteology. Geophysical survey will be done in elected sites, for a more global characterization at a site´s scale and archaeometric studies (namely absolute chronology) will be carried out. At the same time, theoretical work and models definition for public access to the produc...

Rural tourism should ideally be located in rural areas; functionally rural (based on the rural world’s special features, such as open space, natural resources and traditional practices); rural in scale (small scale) and traditional in character, organically and slowly growing and controlled by local people. The present research project seeks to analyse, in a holistic and multi-disciplinary manner, the rural tourism experience lived in some Portuguese areas that are shaped by distinct geographical, cultural, social, political and economic conditions. This experience will be analysed, considering tourists, the community and the tourism destination context. Additionally, results will be confronted to identify conflicts of interest and/ or gaps of perception, as well as gaps between the real and potential rural tourism experience, and ways of eventually overcoming these conflicts and gaps in an attempt to further sustainable destination development.  For the rural destinations analysed, more specific recommendations for destination development will be advanced and eventually, based on common problem-fields identified, more general proposals for improved destination planning and marketing of rural areas in Portugal suggested, thereby also making a contribution in the field of “action research”.