Research

Agenda Conscious Destinations

At the core of CELTH's research programming is the Conscious Destinations Agenda (ABB). Research projects are developed around five urgent themes of 'living environment', 'human capital', 'organizational capacity', 'smartness' and 'leisure supply'.

CELTH explicitly chooses the destination level because that is where all the different subsectors and actors come together. At the destination level, hospitality and value is created for tourists, residents and businesses alike. In a Conscious Destination, parties strive for an outcome whereby the hospitality domain has the most positive social, ecological and economic impacts possible and whereby it leads to the highest possible quality of living, experiencing and working. More about the Conscious Destinations Agenda on this dedicated theme page.

Do you also have a project idea that fits within the Conscious Destinations Agenda? If so, please contact our theme managers.

Sustainability Research Agenda

Sustainable development is high on local, national and international political agendas and also emphatically on CELTH's research programming. As a launch partner, CELTH has signed the “Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. This demonstrates internationally CELTH's commitment to actively work towards achieving the climate goals for the leisure sector as agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement. CELTH is hereby explicitly looking for projects where the urgency and cooperation potential is high and CELTH can apply knowledge and experience with transition processes to lead and guide the sector to a sustainable development path.

The research agenda identifies the most pressing themes around six key questions that the sector is challenged to address:

• Communication for sustainable consumption (NL)
• Implementation of sustainable fuels in all transport modes and production sectors
• Sustainable cities (EU)
• Business models and products for more sustainable consumption (EU)
• Tourism as a catalyst for sustainability in other environmental policies (EU)
• Circular economy destinations & events (NL)

From CELTH we emphasize projects around key questions 1 and 4. You can download the complete Sustainability Research Agenda Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality. We cordially invite researchers and industry to join us in developing research projects around these themes.

Leisure for a better society

The research program 'Leisure for a better society' is about developing smart, sustainable and people-oriented leisure experiences that contribute to major societal challenges. This is badly needed because we are facing major challenges, both nationally and internationally, around climate, energy, housing, digitization, mobility and accessibility.

On the one hand, leisure can be a testing ground for the introduction of new solutions and on the other hand, it is conditional for the success of other sectors. Thus, leisure contributes to the business climate of regions and the happiness of residents. The latter is becoming increasingly relevant because leisure is more and more a determining factor of both individual and collective well-being. On the other hand, leisure can be a testing ground for developments in other sectors.

In several projects, CELTH already cooperates with the Leisure Experience Lab of BUas where the experience of leisure can be objectively measured using biometric measurements. In 2025, we support the World Leisure Congress that will take place in Breda with a CELTH Industry Day and financial support of research projects presented at the congress.