News & Posts

In Cuenca, tourism represents an important driver of the local economy, while the historic centre, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, embodies a cultural landscape that requires careful protection and responsible management. The project therefore explores how different forms of tourism activity interact with heritage conservation and urban life in the historic city.

The ICP initiative aims to promote intercultural learning and strengthen both academic and personal competencies through mobility and collaboration between institutions and participants from diverse cultural and geographic contexts. The project is embedded within the broader framework of international academic cooperation supported by VLIR-UOS, which fosters partnerships between universities in the Global South and institutions in Europe.

This project aimed to characterize the profiles of the different actors who use and shape selected public spaces in the Historic Centre of Cuenca, Ecuador, and to analyze their perceptions regarding cultural heritage, leisure, and tourism.

Warmi VivaMente is a social outreach initiative designed to support female students from outside the city who pursue their studies at the Universidad de Cuenca while living independently.

Sustainable tourism, research-based education, innovation, and knowledge transfer applied to UNESCO-designated territories, with an emphasis on territorial governance, stakeholder participation, and capacity building in the Cajas Massif Biosphere Reserve, in southern Ecuador.

The PREIT-tour research group, in collaboration with World Heritage City , has been awarded 🏆 the 22nd Call of the Vice-Rectorate for Research with the project: “Unveiling the dynamics of short-term rental accommodation through digital platforms (Airbnb) from a multi-actor perspective in World Heritage intermediate cities: an approach to the Historic Centre of Cuenca.” The project will run from March 2026 to February 2027 📅 and will focus on analyzing the impact of short

📌 The research groups PREIT-tour and World Heritage City (CPM) have officially registered their policy paper with SENADI as intellectual property , under the title: 📝 “Cultural Heritage, Leisure and Tourism: An Analysis of Consensus and Disputes over the Use and Enjoyment of Public Space in Cuenca’s Historic Centre.” 🔎 This document offers a clear, evidence-based analysis of the agreements, tensions and conflicts surrounding the use of public space in the Historic Cen

On Friday, November 28, 2025 , we carried out a new round of activities within the Warmi VIVAmente project, this time fully centered on Christmas gastronomy . It was a hands-on, creative afternoon filled with festive aromas and a chance to connect with the culinary traditions of the season. 🎅🔥 👩‍🍳 What We Made With the support and guidance of our Gastronomy students, participants prepared: ⭐ Star-shaped Christmas bread , a soft, aromatic dough perfect for sharing. 🍠 Car