In March 2008 I attended the First International Meeting on Tourism Management – EIGTUR 2008, hosted at Parque Metalúrgico in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, by NUPETUR, the tourism research centre of Federal Univerisity of Ouro Preto. The conference attracted more than 100 delegates, mainly from Brazil but also from other South American countries including Argentina and Uruguay, as well as delegates from Europe, Africa and North America. The conference featured a diverse range of paper presentations, supported by a series of high profile keynote speakers and round tables addressing contemporary issues in the tourism industry.
In addition to delivering a number of presentations, I was a member of the scientific committee. I presented two referred papers: one on the determinants of the intention to purchase leisure travel over the Internet and another on the determinants of the intention to adopt mobile electronic tourist guides. I have also delivered two other presentations as keynote speaker. The first one focused on a model that I have developed (together with Antónia Correia from Algarve University, Portugal) to study the prestige motivation in tourism (see post below). The second presentation covered the legacy of mega-events. These topics were presented in sessions were renowned international academics also presented their topics, including Larry Dwyer (Australia), Brent Ritchie (Canada) and Carlos Costa (Portugal). The conference was an excellent opportunity to network and meet fellow tourism academics (mainly Brazilian).
Besides attending the conference and develop contacts with Brazilian academics, this journey to Brazil had two other purposes. One of them was to raise the profile of Bournemouth University by delivering guest lectures at Brazilian Universities. Three guest lecturers took place: São Paulo University (undergraduate students & lecturers), Universidade Anhembi Morumbi (under & post-graduate students and academics) and UNIFACS - Salvador University (undergraduate students & academics).
The other purpose was to collect primary data about the carnival experience. I have participated in two carnivals (Carnabeirão and Micareta de Feira) and collected data through observation and interaction with event participants. Email contacts were also obtained and online interviews with event attendants will take place in the near future.
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