Keynote Speaker
Graham Miller
Professor Graham Miller is the Rodrigo Guimarães Chair of Sustainable Business and Academic Director at the Westmont Institute for Tourism and Hospitality, Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal. His research focuses on advancing sustainability in society, particularly within travel and tourism. Formerly, he served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean at the University of Surrey, UK, overseeing sustainability and employability.
A Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences, Graham has also chaired the Considerate Group, promoting sustainable practices in the hotel industry, and co-edited the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. He was the lead judge for the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards (2014–2019) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Sustainable Tourism, which seeks to provide imaginative and bold solutions to the global challenges facing society, and how travel and tourism intersect with these challenges.
Roundtable Discussion
Hugo Pinto
Hugo Pinto is an Economist and Professor of Regional and Urban Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve. He is a member of CinTurs—Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability, and Well-being—where he currently coordinates the Tourism and Hospitality Management research line. He is also affiliated with the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, since 2007.
Over the past 20 years, Hugo Pinto has collaborated with various R&D organizations in Portugal and abroad. His primary research interests include the economic geography of innovation, regional development and resilience, the political economy of tourism, smart specialization, and the blue economy. His work combines both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Additionally, he is an active member of the Portuguese Association for Regional Development (APDR) and the Portuguese Association for Political Economy (EcPol).
João Ministro
João Ministro is 50 years old and holds a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Algarve. Over the past 25 years, he has coordinated various projects in the Algarve, focusing on ecotourism, creative tourism, and birdwatching. These include the Via Algarviana, the Regional Strategy for Promoting Birdwatching Tourism, and the Sagres Birdwatching Festival. In 2010, he founded Proactivetur, a tour operator specializing in nature and experiential tourism, with a strong commitment to territorial sustainability. He was also involved in the creation of Rota Vicentina, promoted the TASA project (which values the traditional ancestral arts of the Algarve), and co-founded the QRER cooperative for the development of low-density territories. Through this organization, he has led various initiatives, including the Ameixial Walking Festival and the Algarve Walking Season regional brand.
Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira Duarte
Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira Duarte is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Economics at the University of Beira Interior, specializing in Marketing, including Consumer Behaviour, Branding, and Social Media Marketing. He has taught on Master’s programs at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and the University of Extremadura in Spain. From 2011 to 2023, he directed the Master’s in Marketing at the University of Beira Interior.
Paulo has experience in both the private sector as a commercial director and company manager and the public sector as a former lecturer at the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda. Currently, he is vice-coordinator for human resources and marketing at NECE-UBI. An author of books and articles on Marketing and Tourism, his research focuses on consumer behaviour, brand strategy, and sustainable development. He recently contributed to the TWINE project – ‘Co-creating sustainable Tourism & WINe Experiences in rural areas’.
Elisabete Rodrigues
(Moderator)
Elisabete Rodrigues has been a professional journalist since 1985. She holds a degree in Social Communication from Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Her career began at the weekly newspaper O Jornal, and she later worked for Agência Notícias de Portugal, Agência Lusa, Independente, and Diário de Notícias (1989–1999). From 2000 to 2011, she contributed to Barlavento.
In 2011, she co-founded the online newspaper Sul Informação, where she serves as director. Sul Informação has since become the leading regional newspaper in the Algarve and Baixo Alentejo. In 2016, she expanded the project by founding Alentejo. Sul Informação, an edition focused on the Alentejo region, particularly the Beja district.
Elisabete has received several journalism awards, both individually and as part of a team. In 2024, under her direction, Sul Informação won two prestigious national journalism awards: the Portuguese Press Association’s Innovative Project Award (May) and the Trabalho Jornalístico/Media Award.
She is the founder and first president of Página em Branco – Associação de Comunicadores e Jornalistas Independentes. Elisabete has also contributed to the academia, as a lecturer in Communication Sciences at the University of Algarve and as a teacher trainer in media studies. Currently, she teaches Journalistic Writing at ETIC-Algarve and provides training in Media Literacy.