The Centre for Research, Development and Innovation in Tourism (CiTUR) is a Research and Development Unit (R&DU) stemming from the polytechnic subsystem of higher education in tourism and hospitality. Seventeen schools (universities and polytechnic institutes) are associated to the centre, which comprises almost 200 researchers, about half of which are “integrated”.
Besides the objectives common to all the academia, it is expected that the polytechnics and polytechnic university schools generate and disseminate knowledge that can be recognised by society and by companies as applicable, in the sense that it can be seen as ready for immediate use in productive and/or social intervention processes.
As main objectives for the next five years, we highlight:
- Profiting from the foreseen benefits of an institution with real national reach;
- The involvement and regular participation in international networks, with special attention to those related to Europe and Portuguese Speaking Countries;
- The promotion of a more relevant academic activity, increasing the quality of the various products that can characterise CiTUR’s activity, namely event organisation and scientific publications;
- Maintaining a close relationship with the Network of Public Higher Education Institutions with Degrees in the Area of Tourism (RIPTUR), taking advantage of the synergies that this proximity can bring to the fulfilment of the objectives of both structures;
- Making use (and deepening) of the network of contacts made up of the various public and private stakeholders that are part of the tourism and hospitality cluster, in order to highlight and put in place applied and useful research.
In terms of internal organisation, CiTUR is structured in six regional centres, based in Coimbra, Estoril, Faro, Funchal, Guarda and Leiria. Transversal to these centres, the Unit includes six thematic research groups:
- Tourism Management and Economy
- Tourism, Hospitality and Catering
- e-Tourism - Territory and Tourist Destinations
- Planning, Entertainment and Tourist Products Management
- Tourism, Culture, Society and Language.
