Tourism, Hospitality and Territorial Development in the Lusophone Coastlands: elaboration of a Social Impacts Assessment model of hotel units
Tourism; Hospitality; Social Impact Assessment; Globalization; Territorial Development.
The Doctoral Thesis aims to understand the social impacts of the hotel market's globalization phenomenon in the territorial development process of the Lusophone coastlands. Proposes a specific Social Impact Assessment model for hotel enterprises, being universal in terms of geographical applicability, tourist segmentation and hotel classification. It follows the methodological model proposed by Quivy and Campenhoudt for the social sciences, using António Aledo's Social Impact Assessment (EIS) model as an analysis model where the following dimensions are observed: demographic, economic, environmental-territorial, institutional-legal, sociocultural and emancipatory. Three territories representative of the geographical and social heterogeneity that characterizes the Lusophone coastlands were selected: Portimão (Portugal), Natal (Brazil) and Inhambane (Mozambique). The populations under study are the hotel units themselves, their workers, representatives of local communities and the various public and private institutions with responsibilities for planning, regulation and inspection the tourism activities and hotels practices. It addresses themes such as the socio-spatial effects that the tourist and hotel globalization neoliberal bias imposes on the Lusophone coastlands, the tourism and hospitality as a strategy for territorial development based on social justice and equity, giving priority to an economy based on solidarity and an endogenous basis and finally the usefulness of the Social Impact Assessment models for the construction, organization and dissemination of hotel practices leading to the establishment of more solidary and sustainable tourism activity.