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Turismo de Portugal hosts online summer school programme for IFTM students

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

Turismo de Portugal I.P. recently hosted an online summer school programme for IFTM students. The initiative took place from 29 June to 10 July and allowed participants to learn more about tourism and culture in Portugal.

Turismo de Portugal I.P. oversees tourism promotion in Portugal and it manages a network of hotel and tourism schools across the country.

A wide array of opportunities for IFTM undergraduates to experience life and work outside Macao is offered each academic year by the Institute, including summer exchange programmes. Portugal is a popular destination for such short-term programmes: following the signing of a cooperation agreement between the 2 institutions in 2013, Turismo de Portugal has been offering IFTM students opportunities to learn more about topics relevant to tourism via summer school exchanges in different Portuguese regions.

Following measures to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, that have prevented students from travelling to Portugal from Macao, Turismo de Portugal decided to still press ahead with the 2020 edition of its summer school programme, but in a new format. For the first time, lectures took place online, with no travel involved.

Enrolment for the online summer school programme was free. The initiative had a strong, positive response, with more than 50 IFTM undergraduates, including non-local students, taking part. Several scholars from the Institute also attended the course.

The programme was delivered by instructors from 5 schools under Turismo de Portugal. It helped participants to increase their knowledge of Portuguese culture, heritage, gastronomy and tourism resources.

The programme included 2-hour daily sessions delivered each evening, due to the 7-hour time difference between Portugal and Macao. It even included a “tour” to a winery.

Despite the programme being delivered online, student feedback was very positive, with participants reporting they had benefitted greatly from the experience.

“It was a very good opportunity to get to know Portugal,” says programme participant Karina Ma, a student on IFTM’s Tourism Business Management Bachelor Degree Programme. “Each Turismo de Portugal school gave a presentation on famous heritage sights, festivals, museums and so on, located in their city.”

Fellow participant Rae Zhang states the programme was useful in helping her to learn more about Portugal. The IFTM Tourism Business Management undergraduate says she enjoyed the lectures on gastronomy and wine tourism the most, deepening her knowledge about Portuguese pastries and port wine.

Student Kimberly Chung, from IFTM’s Tourism Event Management Bachelor Degree Programme, says she found the online lectures engaging. Lecturers made extensive use of multimedia content, from photographs to videos, so that “the whole activity made me feel like I was in Portugal and travelling around,” she says.

Evan Huang states it was a first for him to be taking part in an online programme, one involving participants spread across many different locations. The Tourism Event Management student reports that the summer school helped participants to broaden their horizons and to acknowledge the similarities and differences between different tourism destinations.