Carlos Fernandes

Associate Professor in Tourism Studies at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. He obtained his undergraduate degree at Syracuse University (USA), Master´s at Rutgers University (USA) and Ph.D. at Bournemouth University (UK). His interests include tourism as a strategy for community development, heritage, cultural and creative tourism and tourism destination management. In the last few years, he has conducted research and/or consultancy within various special interest areas, including Tourism and Gastronomy, Cultural Tourism and Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage.

For the last ten years, he has been the Director of the Tourism Laboratory, where Carlos directed the operations of the lab, including the coordination of research projects with European Union funding.

He is course leader of the B.A. in Tourism (UNWTO Tedqual certified) and coordinated the curriculum development for the M.A. in Innovative Tourism Development, as well as Course Leader during launching phase.

Carlos cooperated in World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) activities including “training the trainer” courses in Africa. He also cooperates with the Council of Europe for training on alternative tourism as a strategy for regional development.

Carlos is a member of the editorial board of various tourism related scientific journals, including the Journal of Gastronomy and Tourism and book editor of the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage.

He has presented papers in more than seventy national and international conferences, been member of scientific committee for international conferences and has nearly forty publications in his area of interest.

Carlos is Grand Master of the Confraternity of the Gastronomers of Minho, in northern Portugal.