The 5th Doctoral Meeting of the Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Tourism was recently held at the University of La Laguna. Organized by the Doctoral Program's Academic Commission, in collaboration with the School of Doctoral and Postgraduate Studies, the Faculty of Economics, Business, and Tourism, and the CajaCanarias-Ashotel Chair of Tourism of the academic institution, its main objective was to bring together students from the program, affiliated with twelve participating universities, to present and discuss the progress of their doctoral research.
The institutional opening ceremony was attended by Gustavo Alberto Marrero Díaz, Director of the ULL's School of Doctoral and Postgraduate Studies; Antonio Guevara Plaza, President of the Academic Commission of the Doctoral Program and program director at the University of Málaga; and Noemi Padrón Fumero, program director at the University of La Laguna.
This fifth edition, held in a hybrid format, combined plenary sessions and parallel presentations. The topics covered included destination planning and management, the relationship between tourism and local society, economic analysis of the sector, innovation in tourism organizations, heritage tourism, tourism intelligence, information technologies, and data analysis. Research was presented on competitiveness, sustainability, smart tourism destinations, gastronomic and rural tourism, blue marketing, tourism governance, circular economy, resilience, heritage management, and the effects of climate change on tourist areas.
The plenary sessions were highlighted by the workshop-lecture “AI as a Scientific Tool: Fundamentals, Applications, and Best Practices for Researchers,” delivered by Sara Embid Solano, and the presentation by Agustín Santana Talavera, editor of PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, on “Challenges and Strategies for the Dissemination of Heritage and Tourism in Impact Journals.”
The Meeting is part of the activities of the Interuniversity Doctoral Program in Tourism, an academic network comprising twelve Spanish universities. This network, which brings together over 300 researchers and 400 doctoral students, is a leading space for doctoral training and tourism research in Spain. The University of La Laguna, by hosting this event, reinforces its role in doctoral training and the promotion of multidisciplinary tourism research.
