As part of World Tourism Day, Universidade Europeia (UE) is launching a challenge for students and teachers in the Hospitality and Tourism area, in an initiative that will reward two innovative projects in the areas of Sustainability and Social Responsibility. This initiative will be carried out throughout the first semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, with the presentation of the projects, developed in a group context, scheduled for February 2024, at the beginning of the second semester. The ideas will be presented to a jury, which will choose the two group winners in their respective areas.
This project accompanies the consolidation of two important and current trends in the sector, at a time when "travelers and tourists are increasingly aware of and impacted by the issue of sustainability, not only in its environmental aspect, but also in its economic and social aspects," says Ana Sofia Duque, coordinator of the Tourism Degree at UE. Recent data, published in Booking.com's Sustainable Travel Report 2023, reveals that 80% of respondents (in a sample of 33,000 travelers) consider it important to travel more sustainably.
In total, around 59% of respondents are determined to make more sustainable choices in their travels, such as reducing the use of single-use plastic, shopping at small local businesses and using public transport and/or bicycles instead of a car. The second trend concerns the growth of regenerative tourism, where visitors want to feel that they are making a positive contribution to local development, with 66% of respondents saying they would like to contribute to the growth and economic affirmation of the places they visit.
"This sustainable awareness on the part of tourists needs to be accompanied and encouraged by tourism professionals. Hence the importance of these topics in the academic curriculum of current students, who will soon be future professionals in the sector," says Sofia Almeida, coordinator of the Hospitality and Tourism department at UE.
This challenge, now launched in an academic environment, follows the continuous line that has been Universidade Europeia's commitment to sustainability, with several actions having already been implemented aimed at incorporating the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations.