Tourism Management Institute

Tourism Management Institute… research at the service of policymakers, destinations and tourism professionals 

The Tourism Management Institute (TMI) coordinates the research activity of Excelia’s tourism research-active faculty members through collaborative projects with the industry’s stakeholders (public, private, non-profit).  TMI, which has been headed up by Luc Béal since 2018, coordinates and leads the research teams, and establishes and maintains partnerships with external institutions with whom research themes, of interest to researchers and the industry, are defined. 

These research themes consider the role of tourism in economic development, its impact on destinations and local communities, as well as the impact of tourism on the environment and society. 

Enhancing the value and impact of Excelia’s contributions within its local regions, Charente-Maritime and Centre-Val de Loire in particular,  TMI aims to build partnerships with key players in the local tourism sector, which is in a period of transformation, by focusing on specific, topical research areas to address the challenges facing the events sector, the traditional hotel industry, and the open-air sector. 

These partnerships facilitate access to the industry sector (data collection and interviews) and provide funding for the research. They are established through two different types of agreement: research sponsorship or partnership agreement. 

When an agreement is signed, i.e. when a company or an institution has expressed interest in a research topic, TMI assigns researchers to it, with the aim of “building a strong foundation in all dimensions of tourism, whether sociological, geographical, marketing, financial, etc., in order to interest fellow researchers”, explains Luc Béal. 

Several examples of the collaborative research initiatives within TMI: 

• September 30, 2024: Signing of a three-year partnership agreement with Tourismus (and Raccourci Agency), a leading national web agency for tourism institutions. This multi-annual project takes the form of a "Think Tank" on destination commitment to sustainable tourism (with a financial contribution) and aims to build an AI-automated analysis method for traveler reviews to extract content related to sustainable development and propose dashboards for managing sustainable development strategies at the destination level.  
• Octobre 2024: Signing of a partnership agreement with Vacances Ouvertes (national social tourism reference since 30 years). The collaboration consists of studying 30 years of archives to highlight changes (social, beneficiary typology, holiday needs) to refine its 10-year strategy and mobilize national funding bodies.  
• November 2025: TMI is a stakeholder in an agreement signed by the IRSI institute with Charentes Tourisme on two specific aspects: assisting the departmental tourism agency in elaborating a communication strategy adapted to GenZ, and defining a scientific method for building an Observatory of Balanced Tourism, guaranteeing a harmonious cohabitation between visitors and residents.  
• December, 2024: Signing of a 24-month agreement with Novactory concerning « meilleurs usages de l'eau » (best water usages). This partnership aims to build a file for ADEME, in link with governmental plans on resilient water management.  
• March 2023: Signing of a research agreement with the French National Federation of campsites (FNHPA) with the purpose of conducting fundamental and empirical studies on the Camping Resorts industry, piloted by researcher Kévin Grande.    
• February 9, 2022: Signing of a multi-annual agreement with the Relais Thalasso group (Ile de Ré) on customer experience. This collaboration aims to support the thalassotherapy industry in addressing sustainable development challenges. Thalassotherapy wellness resorts are amongst the accommodation providers with the strongest impact on the environment.  
• November 2021:  Signing of a partnership agreement with RMD Technologies, an innovative company specializing in business intelligence for small and medium-sized hotels. TMI worked to establish a collaboration between this private technological actor and the local tourism development agency (Charentes Tourisme) to propose a business intelligence tool at the destination level.  

Beyond contractual collaborative research initiatives, TMI also actively participates in key events organized by tourism professionals :   

• September 2025 : During the Green Destinations World Conference bringing together more than 400 hundred policymakers and tourism professionals, TMI  introduced the first results of the collaborative research with Tourismus and Raccourci Agency, using original large language models to analysis guests’ perception of destinations and professionals initiatives in terms of environment conservation.  
• September 2024:  The inaugural edition of Managers de Destination (la Rochelle), aiming to unite decision-makers from tourist destinations around shared and innovative projects, facilitating their ability to pool resources.  TMI presented an original collaborative research using artificial intelligence to analyse user-generated contents and assist destination managers designing and conducting sustainable development strategies at the destination level.  
• October 2022: Second national roundtable with the FNHPA, hosted by the organiser of Atlantica (the nationwide campsite industry fair). These encounters allowed for the deepening of the theme initiated in 2022 concerning performance, innovation, and environmental impact.  
• May 2022: Organization of the 1st national roundtable dubbed “the future of the campsite industry: research meets the industry” with the FNHPA, attended by the national and local presidents. The aim was to help the industry address challenges such as human resources, CSR (energy & water consumption), marketing and sales, and innovation.  

Consultancy Activity  

The Director of the Tourism Management Institute volunteers as a scientific advisor for RMD Technologies, a La Rochelle startup developing business intelligence tools for independent hotel, specifically, he advised the company on obtaining the coveted status of "Jeune Entreprise Innovante" (Young Innovative Company) and contributed preparing the submission of a funding application to France Relance following COVID-19, to develop expertise in AI-based processing of hotel reservation data.  

Since July 2025, the Director of the Tourism Management Institute participates in a “national community of interest” dedicated to the intelligent management of tourist flows within the France Tourisme Tech program, led by the Direction Générale des Entreprises (DGE) under the Ministry of Economy, together with experts from key players such as Disneyland Paris and Aéroports de Paris.