Carlos Fernandes

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Associate Professor at Polytechnic University of Viana do Castelo

Food tourism impacts the local development of communities from economic, cultural, and environmental perspectives. Also, it serves as a means for preserving and promoting traditions and fostering a sense of belonging within these communities. Despite the extensive body of research on food tourism, there is a limited focus on the perspective of wome...

A curated collection of sources from the ATLAS Cultural Tourism Project.

Sustainable tourism has witnessed a surge driven by escalating demand and heightened expectations from travellers and host communities. This emphasis is aligned with the need to foster a more responsible tourism ecosystem involving industry, destination management organizations, and consumers. Embracing a proactive stance, the tourism sector contri...

This document provides a summary of publications produced by the ATLAS Cultural Tourism Research Group from 1991 to date. For more details about the group and the research programmes it has developed, please go to: https://www.richardstourism.com/atlas-cultural-tourism-project

Gastronomy is an important element of human heritage, as evidenced by the growing number of gastronomic designations in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List (Richards, 2023). The recognition of gastronomy as intangible heritage that needs to be conserved is important, because gastronomic cultures and traditions are increasingly under threat from glo...

Within the broad topic of the INVTUR 2024 conference, this session addresses the conference aims by providing a comprehensive discussion forum on key topics within the field of food tourism. By exploring the diverse aspects of food tourism, encompassing tourists' characterization, product development, management, local communities, destinations, s...

This research aims to explore tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) for food-and-wine experiences according to the generational cohorts’ theory. A positivist paradigm was employed, and data were gathered through an online survey made available from November 2018 to September 2019 and distributed through different platforms, with no incentive being off...

The Report on Gastronomy Tourism in Italy, now in its sixth edition, aims to support the work of destinations and industry stakeholders in capturing the opportunities arising from the combination of food and wine with tourism. It seeks to develop an offering system capable of meeting the needs of the contemporary traveller. The report provides an u...

The CultSense Pedagogical Toolkit provides a wide selection of materials for teachers to work Cultural Sensitivity, in particular in mobility contexts. Although aimed primarily at the fields of Tourism, Leisure and Culture, the tools can be adapted to a range of topics. Among others, the tools include: self-reflection for teachers; instruments tha...

This paper pursues an exploratory study of food traditions in the rural region of Minho in the North of Portugal, as a case study on sensitizing young travellers to the region´s gastronomy heritage. It is based on the CultSense project, funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme, which aims at developing long-term solutions supporting more locally sensiti...

This survey is part of a worldwide research programme conducted by the Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS). The aim of the study is to find out more about visitors to cultural events and attractions, their motivations, activities and impressions. For further information about the survey please contact: Richards.g@buas.nl.

CultSense Edu - Sharing Educational Insights In this first number, we share insights into how the project has been stimulating co-creation with students with video, on staff training for cultural sensitivity and the use of interactive webinars for and with students.

In this ebook you will find a series of papers, which can be read out of curiosity, as a leisure activity, for inspiration, for research, for self-reflection, and as educational material in formal and informal educational contexts. The case studies are divided into four sections: Emotions, Culture and Tourism; Tastes of Culture; Spirituality and Sa...

The use of space‐based Automatic Dependent Surveillance‐Broadcast (ADS‐B) receivers to extend aircraft surveillance beyond line‐of‐sight communication has been discussed since the late 2000s and has been demonstrated in various missions. Although recent demonstrations have relied on small CubeSat platforms, the use of the smallest possible form fac...

The Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic represented a significant break with previous patterns of cultural consumption, effectively halting the growth of ‘mass cultural tourism’ driven by cheap flights and collaborative economy accommodation. Surveys conducted by the ATLAS Cultural Tourism Group in Portugal were used to develop a detailed picture of cul...

Hughes (1995) suggests that there is a 'notion of a natural relationship between a region's land, its climatic conditions and the character of food it produces. It is this geographical diversity which provides for the regional distinctiveness in culinary traditions and the evolution of a characteristic heritage'. Food patterns and customs develop d...

We explore the role of restaurants and food events in promoting local and regional gastronomy in the Minho region in Northern Portugal. Interviews with restaurant owners and event organizers in this mainly rural region reveal that innovation is driven mainly by changing consumer tastes, but also constrained by consumer expectations of low prices. R...

This paper aims to investigate the underlying drivers of co-creation in food-and-wine tourism experiences and, consequently, to explore how they might influence the level of tourists' active participation in related activities. An online survey was developed and sent to platforms specialised in food-and-wine related tourism experiences. A total of...

An analysis of supply and demand for religious tourism in the Minho region of Northern Portugal.

Purpose In general, literature recognises that co-creative experiences add value to the tourism experience, yet empirical research within food-and-wine context remains scarce. This study aims to analyse the tourists’ perceptions of the co-creation construct, their food-and-wine tourism experiences and their willingness to actively co-create in this...

Purpose This study analyses the dimensions of cocreation in on-site food-related activities. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted in two databases (Scopus and Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science), and 67 peer-reviewed articles were identified on cocreation in tourism experiences. Findings...

The ISTnanosat team from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal has been developing a small satellite involving an ADS-B technology demonstration mission since 2017 under ESA’s “Fly Your Satellite!” program. The team chose to develop most subsystems in-house, an approach which led to an innovative design which departs from other missions wi...

This study aims to understand how conflicting stakeholders’ interests and agendas of the public, private and non-profit sectors may affect the management of the tourism destination identity. It focuses on Northern Portugal, a geographical area with contrasting characteristics, ranging from coastal urban areas to rural hinterland, each dealing with...

Wine tourism is considered a crucial element for the tourism industry and for the sector of viniculture and wine industry. In this context, wine-producing regions increasingly seek ways of providing value-added experiences to visitors in order to develop the destination and possibly gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Wine tourism ex...

Using food as a differentiating asset of destinations and its potential in influencing tourists' travel decisions is being much discussed in academia. Different countries use distinct terms to relate food to tourism. Concepts such as culinary tourism, food tourism and gastronomy tourism are used interchangeably. This paper aims to explore regional...

A chronological analysis of Christian pilgrimages over the course of around 2,000 years of existence suggests that there have been swings in their level of popularity: strong whenever the ruling classes whether religious or civil) protect popular sanctuaries and declining whenever policies constraint the practice of pilgrimages. This paper starts w...

This book is about an increasing awareness of the risks and safety challenges facing religious events/festivals on a global scale. The authors provide practical applications, models and illustrations of religious tourism and pilgrimage management from a variety of international perspectives. Beginning with a general section on risk management, cove...

This paper identifies the perceptions and behaviours of owners/ managers of rural small and medium‑sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) regarding the use of social networks at the present time and in the future. Based on a qualitative perspective, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with owners / managers of SMTEs based in the Minho ‑ Lima...

Este capítulo pretende apresentar uma reflexão acerca do desenvolvimento estratégico do turismo de negócios em Portugal, consubstanciado no PENT e na sua atualização aprovada pela Resolução do Conselho de Ministros (RCM) n.º 24/2013, de 16 de abril, após uma caracterização do produto “turismo de negócios” e da sua representatividade em Portugal, no...

O presente artigo identifica as perceções e comportamentos por parte dos proprietários/gerentes das pequenas e médias empresas turísticas (PMETs) de alojamento em relação à utilização das redes sociais, no presente e no futuro. Tendo por base uma perspetiva qualitativa, foram realizadas nove entrevistas semiestruturadas aos proprietários/gerentes d...

Many travellers whose main motivation is religious tourism (Catholic) have visited the major shrines such as the Holy Land, the Vatican, Lourdes (France) and Fatima (Portugal). After having been in those places /shrines, religious tourists seek to visit other sanctuaries but find that the offer is limited. With that in mind, in 2016, three research...

O texto aqui proposto resulta de um estudo sobre a análise da cooperação estratégica entre os sectores público e privado para o desenvolvimento turístico local; as parcerias público-privadas no sector do turismo, mais concretamente em territórios de cariz rural e de baixa densidade populacional. A problemática da pesquisa tem como objectivo a avali...

In 2003, a study was conducted in northern Portugal designed to establish the religious tourism potential throughout the region. The study was part of a wider project entitled “Religious Tourism as a motor for regional development”, carried out by a regional organization, funded by the national government and part funded by the European regional st...

Because culture's role in tourism is key and usually the primary reason for visiting certain tourist destinations, the development of cultural tourism as a component of cultural economic development is important in that it requires a destination to sell its culture and creativity to the intended market. This paper seeks to explore the attitudes, ex...

Travel related to religious sites and festivals, pilgrimage or spirituality is a long established and extremely important sector of the tourism market. Pilgrimage sites provide an important underpinning to the basic tourism product not only at the pilgrimage destinations but also along the routes leading to them, which often attract those not trave...

Increasingly, new challenges face tourism destinations, such as changing consumer preferences, the increasing involvement of host communities, technological innovation and environmental pressures. Mostly due to rapidly changing technology, change in work skills and intense pressures of (global) competition, tourism education is often criticized as...

The latest trends suggest that tourism planning and development requires that destinations differentiate the tourism product in an increasingly competitive market. Expectations of todays experiential traveller require that destinations deliver the most memorable experiences. Tourism products must adapt to such changing tourist demand. As an emergin...

This paper explores the case of Georgia in Southwestern Asia as an emerging tourist destination and focuses on the potential of the ancient city of Mtskheta for developing religious heritage tourism. Classified as the City Museum Reserve of Mtshketa, the area is comprised of an ensemble of monuments that is protected under national law as a City-Mu...

This paper critically reviews tourism developments in the Alto Minho province of northern Portugal over the period 1986–1996. At the time of Portugal's accession to the European Union this region was widely regarded, certainly by sociologists, as the most rural area of western Europe. By contrast to many other western European rural areas it has a...

Northern Portugal may be viewed as peripheral in Europe as it has many characteristics that Sofield (2003) associates with remote locations: rural depopulation, marginal economies, a high quality natural environment, and cultures in transition from traditional to modern. There is evidence to suggest that community development with a significant emp...