Seminar

Abstract: Portugal started its connection with the sea in the XVth Century, through the discovery of new territories in America, Africa and Asia. Due to the maritime traffic with the former colonies, the connections with the sea were important until 1974.

Portugal joined the European Union in 1986, and then the political choices led to priority investment in main land activities. As a consequence, Portugal almost lost its maritime vocation.
Beyond 2013 the EU will release a trust fund to support major important maritime affairs. With the current crisis and the tourist vocation and tradition that Portugal has, there is an urgent need to take this opportunity to relaunch the economy, bringing the population back to connect with the sea.

Abstract: Despite the recent efforts to revive the discourse on peace and tourism and the launch of two important publications: The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research and the text Tourism, Progress and Peace (Moufakkir & Kelly, 2010), this subject of study struggles to gain sufficient scholarly interest and remains under-researched. The broad ‘church’ of Tourism Studies, together with Hospitality Studies and the emerging field of Event Studies provide prisms through which the intricate relationships of objects, people, places, and environments can be further explored critically.

Abstract:The British Columbia tourism industry—post Olympics—is in a state of transition, and this presents an opportunity to compare practices with similar overseas destinations. There are enough similarities with the New Zealand tourism industry (population base, comparable range of tourism experiences, Pacific Rim location etc.) that we can benefit by exploring, and learning from each other, particularly in the field of tourism education and research. Terry Hood will present a brief and informal overview of the tourism infrastructure in “Super, Natural British Columbia”, and highlight current issues that are high on the radar for tourism professionals in the province.

Abstract: Previous research has shown that managers in the hotel industry perceive persons with disabilities as lacking the required embodied capacities and attributes, unable to meet industry-specific work requirements and too costly to employ. I explore the validity of these negative judgements through a case study of integrative hotels employing on average more than 60 percent of persons with disabilities. The empirical findings show that the negative judgements held by managers in non-integrative hotels regarding persons with disabilities were not supported in the case of the integrated hotels. Many disabilities had no impact on the employees’ mobility or shift work.