On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and its Economics and Business Studies, a group of professors from the tourism field of the institution reflect upon the current situation of the sector at a key moment. On the one hand, they bring their ideas on what has been the evolution of tourism over the last twenty-five years and the elements and key factors that have conditioned this evolution to date. On the other hand, based on the crisis generated by the effects of the pandemic, they deliberate on identifying possible future scenarios and the key factors that may condition them.

This contribution seeks to provide an overview of current research into sustainable tourism from two angles. It describes firstly the key arguments in the theoretical discussion on the idea of sustainability in the tourism sector, and secondly the areas of academic research that are of interest for research into tourism and sustainability. This study will enable a global evaluation of not only the factors that influence the discussion on the sustainability of tourism, but also the central thematic areas in which this matter is addressed.

This contribution seeks to provide an overview of current research into sustainable tourism from two angles. It describes firstly the key arguments in the theoretical discussion on the idea of sustainability in the tourism sector, and secondly the areas of academic research that are of interest for research into tourism and sustainability. This study will enable a global evaluation of not only the factors that influence the discussion on the sustainability of tourism, but also the central thematic areas in which this matter is addressed.

This paper intends to be an approach to the potential of augmented reality in the tourism sector, one of the economic sectors in which expectations are higher but where it has been scarcely applied. Augmented reality is a disruptive technology that, if properly managed, can be an important tool for tourist destinations in terms of competitiveness. In particular, the combination of augmented reality with mobile devices generates high expectations in relation to the attraction of technological tourists, best known as millennials. Augmented reality enhances the tourist experience of the visitors and enables the creation of new tourism products and low cost creative ways to promote destinations. However, before carrying out strategic actions, the tourist managers should be conscious of the limits of augmented reality in terms of technological usability, preferences lack of demand and lack of evaluation of results and economic performance obtained.