Hugo Teixeira Francisco
Hugo Teixeira Francisco is an entrepreneur enthusiastic about tourism, innovation and marketing, with over 20 years of international experience in the tourism and hospitality sector. He holds a degree in Tourism and a postgraduate qualification in Marketing and Communication. He is a lecturer at the Coimbra School of Hospitality and Tourism and at Portugal’s digital tourism academy, where he shares his knowledge and guides young entrepreneurs in launching new companies and business ideas.
Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of the Portugal Green Travel Group, which includes the companies Portugal Green Travel DMC & Consulting, DNA Travel & Events, Foge Comigo por Portugal, Coimbra Experience HUB and Geonatour, he is also the Coimbra Regional Director of the Portuguese Association of Marketing Professionals (APPM).
With over 20,000 taught hours and more than 20,000 trainees, he is also a mentor in various mentoring programmes and has helped launch more than 100 business ideas and companies onto the national market.
As a keynote speaker, consultant and entrepreneur, he regularly participates in national and international events, sharing his experience and knowledge in entrepreneurship, structuring tourism products and services, marketing and promotion in the tourism sector.
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, teaching Marketing subjects, in particular Consumer Behaviour, Branding and Social Media Marketing.
He is a guest lecturer on the Master’s programmes in Management and Marketing at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa-Católica Porto Business School. He holds a PhD in Management with a specialisation in Marketing and from 2011 to 2023 he directed the Master’s in Marketing at the University of Beira Interior. Internationally, he collaborated on the University Master’s Degree in Management of Tourism Organisations and Resources: Hotel Management at the University of Extremadura in Spain.
His professional career has been divided between the private sector, where he has held positions as commercial director and company manager, and the public sector, having previously taught at the Polytechnic Institute of Guarda.
He is currently vice-coordinator for human resources and marketing at NECE-UBI (Research Centre in Business Sciences). He is the author of several books and scientific articles in the field of Marketing and Tourism. His main research interests are consumer behaviour, both online and offline; brand strategy, both commercial and territorial, and its role in sustainable development. He recently took part in the TWINE project – ‘Co-creating sustainable Tourism & WINe Experiences in rural areas’.