2
Heading up TIDES is Professor Carmelo León, holder of the UNESCO chair in Tourism and Sustainable Economics. His mission is to bring the fledgling center, now in its second year, into the top ten tourism institutes in the world (now in position 27) via a multitude of interdisciplinary research initiatives. “Ran- king is made based on scientifically refereed publications for which we must put together diverse research projects and get new data. We need to be more visible in scientific and academic publishing,” says León. He is confident that, coupled with the institutes secure funding, the eclectic team of professors in nine different divisions will be able to achieve breakthroughs in re- search into entrepreneurship, marketing, statistics, sustainable development, natural resources, land planning, urbanism, de- sign and innovation in tourism products and cooperative ventu- res with developing countries. “We already have links with Indo- nesia and Colombia to expand our activities in Asia and South America, which relate directly to our UNESCO goals, giving an international dimension to the institute,” León explains. Industry recognition and collaboration rank high on Leóns wish list. Bi-annual conferences are enhancing local awareness of the institute’s potential with extensive media coverage. “We hold two conferences per year, one in the summer and another at Christmas when we have a festi- ve dinner,” says León. “However, this is a difficult task as we’re finding people are too busy with the economic crisis, they don’t have time to think. They know the information and knowledge is relevant but not as urgent right now.” Although happy with the response of university personnel to the first two conferences, he is concerned about the relatively low attendance from industry: “The objective is to bring more industry people in through time, especially as a result of media attention. By bringing people as prominent as Dr Simon Hudson from the University of South Carolina, Brent Ritchie from University of Calgary, we hope it will grow.” To counteract traditional inertia between university and society, the institute is promoting pilot projects - such as the collabora- tion with the Development Iberoamerican Bank, to predict the tourism demand of Paraguay; the collaboration with the Spa- nish Government in a pilot project to re-design the new tourism model on Gran Canaria according to the segment preferences: and many other projects with governments and companies such as Global - designed to create a free demonstration effect. The bus company (Global) employs 5000 local people and is very focused on social responsibility, one of the keystones of the institute. “In this collaboration we will have a dedicated follow- up team which evaluates every three months what’s going on with the institute and the company. We then write up proposals and apply for grants .They provide their research objectives and what they want us to focus our researchers and PhD students on,” says León. Companies that collaborate with the center can also contribute funding for specific projects but TIDES has al- ready succeeded in gaining grants with mainland Spain and the Canary Island government as well as developing countries such as Morocco, Colombia and Guatemala. Interview to Carmelo León (Director of Tides Institute Tourism and Sustainable Development Research Center) Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria TIDES, a new Tourism and Sustainable Development Center in Gran Canaria, is looking for industry partners to help spearhead cutting edge tourism research for the Canary Islands. Global Transportation among other companies and institutions is already on board, taking advantage of the expertise and experience of the academic team. But the 54-person institute has resources and personnel for many more entrepreneurial projects to boost tourism. Dr Teresa Aguiar Quintana is the industry liaison for TIDES, responsible for spreading the word about their research objectives. “She is very good at making contacts, talking to industry leaders and trying to communicate that we’re there and can provide them with a service,” says León. The university-industry relationship would not be primarily about money as the center has funding and the scope to apply for further grants - “It is more a question of two-way information channeling and time,” he explains. 1/2
