Portugal and Porto rise to the challenge of tourism at the QSP Summit

Tourism will continue to grow with the right public and private policies. In fact, the brand Portugal and the brand Porto are sustainable brands. This was what Mayor of Porto stated at the worklab "Tourism: threat or opportunity?" held in the context of the 2018 QSP Summit.

The QSP Summit is considered one of the most relevant Marketing and Management Conferences in Europe. The 12th edition happened at Exponor and gathered the world's reputed experts in the fields of marketing and management.

The subject of the QSP Summit was "The Challenge". Rui Moreira rose to the challenge during the worklab, with journalist João Adelino Faria leading the panel of discussion that also gathered the President of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo.

The Mayor pointed out that tourism in Portugal has been growing steadily but in a sustained way, and this is not the result of a tourism "bubble" or an Arab Spring. Rui Moreira also argued that tourism will continue to rise with the right public and private policies.

When asked about the recent phenomenon of tourism booming in the country and in the city of Porto, and whether this wouldn't be a trend of temporary nature, the Mayor argued that "it is a trend but a sustainable trend". As he said, it all depends on awarding the brand Portugal and the brand Porto the "appropriate sustainability and supporting factors".

In turn, Luís Araújo highlighted that "there is no major opinion discrepancy and that he finds that tourism is rather a matter of style than trend".

The President of Turismo de Portugal also added that "a key element has been the important work carried out by our organisation, with over 33 thousand headlines covered in both domestic and foreign press in 2017".

On the topic regarding the threshold number of tourists that the city of Porto wold be able to welcome, Mayor Rui Moreira stressed that the per capita income is rising, but "what's most important is to think where to turn our strategies to". People came here (Porto) for the authenticity, for the distinctive brands. We should be able to realise what is positive for us, what we want in terms of the development of our cities and regions, of our economy". Bearing this in mind, "we are keeping our uniqueness, and by doing that we will learn how to grow without forging what we are".

Pinpointing that "it is, obviously, very much possible to do more and better", the Mayor explained that it is wrong to encapsulate the city and to disregard "the apport of tourism in the city. It is of the utmost importance to be reminded that city-regeneration is tourism related, and that tourism also helped fight long-term unemployment, among those with no qualifications and that it has even boosted a new type of entrepreneurship".

The moderator also took the matter of tourism as phobia in many touristic destinations to the discussion. Rui Moreira stated that is something that does not yet occur in Portugal as there are even statistics demonstrating that one of the positive impacts of tourism is precisely the warm welcoming of the Portuguese people.

"However, we must be certain that this positive impact of tourism reaches a larger number of citizens, whereas the negative impact should be disperse and not concentrated in a certain group of the population or city area", he further stated.

The tourism footprint, especially on mobility and on city cleaning, the impact on real estate demand, and its consequent impact on prices were other issues discussed.

"About a year ago, tourist transport regulation in the city with the hop on-hop off changed the way tourists circulate in the city. Lisbon has even followed our example. What we did was to alleviate touristic tours in residential areas", Rui Moreira explained.

Regarding the tourist tax, the option was to compensate citizens in a balanced and fair way. Municipal revenue adds from the tourist tax, "which enables us to supply the cheapest water in Porto Metropolitan Area", Mayor Rui Moreira concluded.

Top speakers at QSP Summit

Daniel Goleman, the pioneer of the "Emotional Intelligence" concept, was the main speaker of the summit.

The renowned psychologist inspired the audience with his ground breaking notions on empathy, with employees and at the workplace.

According to Goleman, "the higher the emotional awareness of one's feelings, the greater the ability to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s)".

The 12th edition of QSP Summit also featured lectures by Rob Goffee, professor emeritus of Organizational Behaviour of London Business School, who stated "the importance of a genuine leadership". Steve Knight, professor of personal development at INSEAD Business School, held a lecture on the relevance of voice in maximizing the impact before an audience.

The Summit also introduced speakers Bonin Bough, NBC presenter and author of the book "TXT Me" and one of the most reputed "mobile marketeers" of modern time, as well as Tamara McCleary, business consultant in the USA, including Amazon and main researcher in the fields of markets and technology.

This edition of QSP Summit sold out and the "Challenge" has been mastered and met. The next five years, the conference will continue to engage the most relevant topics and experts at the Exponor.