Research centre for Studies in Tourism Development

Worldwide, tourism has already become the biggest economic sector and is still growing. In many developing countries tourism is the major driving force behind economic growth and social improvement, thanks to its labour-intensive nature and the substantial side-effects it generates on other economic activities. However, cultural and ecological disruption are never far away from tourism development. OSTO intends to study the conditions for a harmonious advancement of the economic, cultural and ecological outcome of tourism development. Its composition is therefore, evidently, of a multidisciplinary and interfaculty nature to cover the multiple aspects of the tourism phenomenon.