BCTS – Researching Tourism in its Environmental and Societal Contexts

The Brussels Centre for Tourism Studies (BCTS) is a research centre within the Institut de Gestion de l’Environnement et d’Aménagement du Territoire (IGEAT), a multidisciplinary institute at ULB that brings together around sixty researchers from fields including geography, political science, economics, sociology, environmental studies, spatial planning, transport, and tourism. Over the past four decades, IGEAT has developed a strong academic reputation for its contributions to the analysis of spatial and environmental transformations and their implications for public and private decision-making.
 

Within this framework, BCTS focuses specifically on tourism and its complex interrelations with the biophysical environment, social dynamics, and spatial processes. This work encompasses both urban and rural contexts, in Belgium and internationally, and pays particular attention to the perspectives and practices of diverse stakeholder groups—residents, tourists, and actors in the tourism sector.
 

The research centre, formerly known as LIToTeS or IGEAT, has built over twenty years of expertise in critically examining the challenges and transformations associated with tourism. In recent years, its research has increasingly addressed questions of adaptability and robustness in tourism systems, in response to accelerating ecological and societal changes.
 

In addition to its research activities, BCTS is involved in academic training and capacity-building, both at ULB and through international collaborations. For nearly two decades, the centre has worked with partners in Madagascar, India, and Vietnam, and more recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo, contributing to the co-production of knowledge and the development of context-sensitive approaches to tourism.

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