BU 4 Lisbon 2016 - Field trip to Lisbon and Cascais & the Estoril Coast

Over 100 final year BA Events Management and BA Events & Leisure Marketing students, accompanied by 6 staff, have recently made a 5 day long field trip to Lisbon and Cascais & Estoril Coast, Portugal.

The trip is a key component of their International Event Management/ International Leisure Marketing unit, helping students to develop their understanding of how a tourism destination markets itself as an international event/leisure destination.

During the trip, students visited a number of event venues and attended presentations with institutional and business representatives. The program also included social activities for students to bond with each other and with tutors.

The trip started with a visit to the Luz stadium, a modern 65.000 seat stadium home of Benfica Lisbon which hosted the Euro2004 and the Champions League 2014 finals. The visit included a guided tour of the facilities, a presentation by Henrique Conceicao (Product Innovation Manager of the club), the Eagle’s flight (a tradition in the club) and a visit to the club’s museum (shortlisted to the best 25 European museums 2016). 

The Eagle's flight

BenficaTV, the club’s channel with more than 500.000 subscribers, did a 3 minute report about BU’s presence which was broadcast on the prime time news.

The second day was devoted to Cascais & the Estoril Coast, a municipality within Lisbon’s metropolitan area. Dr. Miguel Moital, lead organiser of the trip, is an ambassador to the region and managed to secure sponsorship from the Cascais Tourism Board in the form of a delicious lunch. The three course meal took place at a restaurant in the recently renovated Cascais food market, with the menu starting with local prawns, followed by codfish with cream and ending with an almond tart. Before lunch students visited the Estoril Congress Centre, where they attended two presentations. The first was by Bernardo Correia de Barros, Head of the Cascais Tourism Board, who explained the tourism and events standing within, and strategy of the municipality. Linda Pereira from CPL Events shared her views on organising international events, in what students considered to have been a very inspirational talk. After lunch students visited the Oitavos Hotel, which features one of the best 100 gold courses in the world.

The third day involved a morning visit to the Nations Park area and an afternoon session at the Corinthia Hotel. At the Lisbon Exhibition Centre students were greeted by Alexandra Toregao, Marketing Coordinator in charge of many of the events that take place at the venue. The visit included an introduction to the venue, Q&A and a visit to each of the four pavilions. Next, students visited Meo Arena, also located in the Nations Park, which is the fifth largest arena in Europa and is a prime venue for both leisure and corporate events. Jaime Fernandes from the Board of Directors hosted an introduction to the venue using a photo presentation to show its various uses, followed by a guided tour of the venue.

After lunch students visited the biggest conference hotel in Lisbon – the Corinthia – which was one of the sponsors of the trip. After a visit to the venue and a coffee break offered by the hotel, students attended three presentations. The first by Joao Vieira (Director of Human Resources) and Isabelle Grignola (Director of Meeting & Incentives Sales) who explained the Corinthia brand and events at the Corinthia, respectively. Next, Andre Moura from the Lisbon Tourism Board provided an overview of tourism and events in Lisbon, with the afternoon ending with a presentation by Carmo Barba from Events by TLC. Carmo used examples of international events that TLC organised at some of the venues included in the programme of the trip to illustrate the potential of Lisbon as a destination for international events.

On Thursday, Alexandra Toregao showed students around the second venue she works for – the Lisbon Congress Centre. As the largest of its kind in Portugal, the centre is a multi-purpose venue although most of the events it hosts are congresses. 

Students then moved to the Belem area, where some of the main tourist attractions are located. They visited the most iconic one – the Jeronimos Monastery – guided by final year tour guiding students from the Estoril Higher Institute for hotel and Tourism Studies. 

In between the visits to the congress centre and the monastery, students could taste the traditional custard tartlets ‘pasteis de belem’. For many students this was one of the highlights of the trip (they are delicious!).

After a free afternoon, students were invited to a social that featured dinner and entertainment. Students enjoyed a steak at the traditional beer house Cervejaria Trindade (open since 1837), where a surprise expected them - a Fado performance by Rui Neiva Correia. Although Fado requires silence, some Fado songs allow the audience to sing along and students joined in when invited by Rui. To many this opportunity to immerse themselves in one of the most iconic elements of Lisbon’s culture was the highlight of the trip. The evening continued at a bar in the bohemian quarter of Cais do Sodre.

The final day was devoted to a walking tour of Lisbon downtown, including Baixa, Augusta Street Arch, Comercio Square and S. Jorge Castle. Students were treated to a glorious sunshine and blue sky which helped to keep the spirits up in the context of having to walk up the hills at the end of a tiring yet fruitful week.

Students could not praise their experience of Lisbon enough. Many have send tutors thank you messages. Here is s sample:

• I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed Lisbon I thought it was an absolutely fantastic trip and I learnt so much. 
• Just wanted to say a quick thank you for the trip to Lisbon as I did not get the chance to say this to you all at the airport! I had a great trip and found it really interesting to see the capacity for events in an international context. Portuguese custard tarts and Fado were a highlight!
• Just wanted to say a very big thank you for taking us all to Lisbon. I know myself and everyone I spoke to really enjoyed the trip. It must take a lot of effort of your parts to organise a trip for over a 100 students but I really hope your enjoyed it as much as we all did. Anyway just wanted to send a little note of appreciation.
• Thank you so much for the Lisbon trip and all your amazing organisation. Will be the highlight of my UNI life by far!

As the lead organiser, it was a pleasure to take the group to Lisbon. We had great support from local stakeholders and students’ behavior was very professional throughout the trip. From an academic point of view, the trip was a great success and many of the experiences are now serving as a basis for discussions in class.

The team of tutors that accompanied the trip enjoying a 'bitoque' (fried steak with chips)

Perhaps more importantly, the best memories from university are often created when students get to know each other and create shared experiences. I believe that this trip provided students which many opportunities to develop friendships and memories that will be cherished for a long time.  

Students having fun at Jamaica nighclub in Cais do Sodre during the trip's last night social