Cultural events as tourism supply in coastal Catalan resorts

During the last three decades, the number of tourism events has been growing in Catalan coastal resorts because of the recover of Catalan cultural traditions, festivals and folklore, and also because of tourism growth. Catalan tourism resorts use events as catalysers for new supply and as a mean to differentiate and singularize themselves from their competitors. The tourism potential of cultural events is undeniable but there are some problems that prevent a more effective impact as economic and regional development agents. This paper reflects some discussions and conclusions obtained from the analysis of 264 valid responses of a survey made to different Catalan event organizers in 2008 and 2009. We describe and characterize cultural event supply in coastal resorts in order to study the events tourism importance, their capacity to generate and spread economic development, and their managerial model. The analysis is made in a geographical basis, comparing the results of the territorial organization of events of the city of Barcelona, coastal and inland municipalities. Finally some considerations about event regional tourism policy and tourism development are discussed.

Usos formales y no formales de las TIC entre los estudiantes universitarios

La presente comunicación muestra los resultados de una investigación que tiene por finalidad identificar y comprender los usos de las TIC por parte de estudiantes universitarios en sus procesos de aprendizaje, con la intención de extraer conclusiones que permitan mejorar el diseño de las situaciones de aprendizaje en contextos formales, haciéndolas más próximas, adaptadas y motivadoras para éstos, teniendo en cuenta los diferentes perfiles de estudiantes identificados y aprovechando la identificación y uso que estos muestran por determinados recursos tecnológicos.