Projectes
RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACTIVITIES 2025 - 2026
RESEARCH
1. Social Sustainability
We have developed two workstreams to diagnose the situation of the sector. The first is a report on the presence of social sustainability in the digital communication of 302 accommodations, based on a review of their websites and social networks.
The second workstream is a survey on the social sustainability practices of hotels, apartments, and campsites on the Costa Dorada. The objective of this tool is to obtain data to analyse the situation of the sector, with a special focus on aspects such as employment quality, the relationship with the local community, collaboration with local suppliers, and accessibility.
In parallel, a report on tourism governance has been prepared using Salou as a case study, and a model proposal has been developed based on multi-level coordination, the participation of local stakeholders, and the use of tourism intelligence tools.
2. Residents and tourism
A survey has been designed to analyse citizen perception regarding the impact of tourism in Salou, including aspects such as the economy, housing, the environment, and governance. The objective is to understand how citizens perceive the impact of tourism in the municipality, as well as the degree of acceptance, coexistence, and future expectations.
A report has also been prepared on the leisure offerings of Salou, Cambrils, Montblanc, and Prades in order to analyse the seasonal and typological distribution of scheduled activities during the year 2025. The study focused on the regular monitoring of municipal websites, the digital agenda of the Costa Dorada tourism brand, and official profiles on the social network Instagram.
3. Universal accessibility
Within the framework of our research on universal accessibility, four main actions have been developed, focusing on the analysis of accessibility, sustainability, and digitalisation in the wine tourism sector. On one hand, a study of 230 wineries in the Costa Dorada was conducted to analyse their digital communication regarding the environment, their wine tourism offerings, and accessibility.
In parallel, fieldwork will be carried out in La Rioja Alavesa to visit and hold meetings with leading companies such as Bodegas Valdemar, Bodegas Murillo Viteri, and the Villa-Lucía Museum. This will allow us to learn about best practices in accessibility and inclusion, as well as the importance of specialised training and advice to implement them. We also designed a diagnostic survey to evaluate the status of local wineries in terms of physical, sensory, digital, and communication accessibility, in collaboration with the Costa Dorada Tourism Board and with the support of the various wine denominations of origin. Finally, we will begin collecting data on the accessibility of winery websites using the AccessMonitor tool, with the aim of subsequently analysing their level of compliance with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines
TRANSFER
- Workshop on "Wellbeing and regeneration: the new value of tourism"
The event brought together tourism professionals, institutions, and business owners from the Costa Dorada to explore how regenerative tourism and wellbeing can transform the current tourism model. The day was structured around a keynote presentation on the key concepts of regeneration, which then led to a participatory workshop focusing on experience design, inter-company collaboration, and the transition towards more sustainable management models.
- Call for entries to the second edition of the SouvenirART Awards and exhibition
The second edition of the SouvenirART Prize, under the title "Architecture Becomes Memory", focused on the valorisation of the historical and architectural heritage of Salou. The call for entries generated 147 expressions of interest and 43 works submitted to the competition, which were evaluated anonymously by a jury made up of heritage and art experts. The winning work was "Salou - Modernisme daurat" by Helena Frías Peña. There were also special mentions for the works "Temps d'estiueig" and "Correspondències en el temps". The awards ceremony, held on 13 February 2026 at the Chalet Fort in Salou, brought together authorities from the Town Hall, the Tourism Board, the URV, and a large group of citizens. At the same time, the public exhibition of the 38 selected works was opened.
Finally, this edition will be documented in an official catalogue in both print and digital formats, which will collect all the exhibited works and serve as a tool to promote local talent and the destination's heritage.
- Seminar on "Social sustainability in tourist accommodation: diagnosis and best practices"
The seminar, held on 25 March at the Hotel Blaumar in Salou, brought together tourism professionals, institutions, and students to present the new survey on social sustainability practices in accommodations on the Costa Dorada. The institutional welcome was given by Pere Granados (Mayor of Salou), Juan Antonio Duro (Vice-Rector of the URV), Octavi Bono (Manager of the Costa Dorada Tourism Board of the Tarragona Provincial Council), and Berta Cabré (President of the FEHT). Dr Marta Nel·lo, Director of the Chair, presented the core areas of the survey on social sustainability practices in accommodations, along with preliminary data from the study on their digital communication. Following this, Isabel Novoa (World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance) addressed social indicators and presented the VeraFy platform; Dr Daniela Freund and Dr Itziar Ramírez (IQS - URL) presented best practices for promoting inclusive environments in the sector; and Coralía Pino (Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero) demonstrated with examples how social sustainability is a factor in business competitiveness. The event concluded with a round table discussion by the FEHT Sustainability Committee, with the participation of Alicia Herráez (Grupo Blasi), Núria Varela (Grupo Blaumar), and Vanessa Rodríguez (PortAventura World), in which they debated the current challenges facing the region and ways to address them together.
- Accessibility Workshops
Within the framework of the research line on accessibility, two seminars were delivered to students of the Degree in Tourism. In October 2025, Dr Noemí Rabassa gave the seminar "Creation of experiences for people with disabilities" to third-year students, combining a theoretical session on disability and tourism accessibility with a practical activity in which groups designed adapted experiences based on the identification of a buyer persona. In March 2026, Dr Rabassa and Tàrek Lutfi Gilabert (URV) delivered a seminar on "Communicative accessibility" to second-year students, addressing digital accessibility, the accessibility chain, and support products, with a practical activity evaluating documents and web pages. Both seminars contributed to raising awareness among the future talent of the sector and to integrating accessibility as a key professional.
