Rita Marques to speak at IPBN Tourism Conference in Porto

The former Secretary of State for Tourism under the PS Socialist government led by António Costa, Rita Marques, will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming annual Irish-Portuguese Business Network’s Tourism Conference in Porto on November 14.

Rita Marques is currently the President of the Livraria Lello Foundation (linked to the booksellers made famous from a Harry Potter film) and Consultant, Invited Faculty Member, Programme Director, and Champion of the Innovation Tourism Hub at the Porto Business School.

Rita will be one of the guest speakers at the third-edition of the IPBN’s annual Tourism Conference which will be held at WOW Porto!

The former Secretary of State will talk about her work at the Innovation Hub, a dynamic hub that fosters innovation by co-creating knowledge in collaboration with organisations, entrepreneurs, and academia, as well as sharing her views on sustainable tourism.

Rita Marques is the current President of Livraria Lello Foundation and the former Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce, and Services in Portugal from 2019 to 2022, and a member of the Executive Committee of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

She is the Champion of the Innovation Tourism Hub at the Porto Business School, University of Porto, and is a well-respected expert in the Just Transition Platform and a tireless Group Leader in the Harnessing Talent Platform at the European Commission. Suffice it to say, her input is coveted within tourism and governance, and the IPBN is “delighted to have her as a guest speaker” at the upcoming IPBN Tourism Conference based in Porto on November 14 in an exclusive conversation with IPBN Board Member Rachael Milne.

Rita commented on the challenges of building back the tourism industry after the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time she held office.

About the work done during the lockdown, Rita told Ireland’s Travel Trade Network, “We had more than €3Bn injected into the sector with layoff schemes trying to preserve jobs with aid to the liquidity of the companies because there was no revenue, no receipts, and so we had a huge effort to make the sector stay alive.

“We knew there was a demand issue and as soon as the demand pops up, we needed to be ready,” she recalled.