Considering tourism as a means and an opportunity for development is increasingly found in the socio-economic policies of countries, in the strategies of the receiving countries of international aid and in the objectives or plans of the international co-operation agencies and donating bodies. Some facts that have contributed to this increase in the protagonism of tourism are, among others, the agreement reached in international meetings on the capacity of tourism to contribute towards socio-economic development and, more specifically, to alleviate poverty, as stated in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The transcendence and magnitude of the journey made so far demands efforts being made on getting to know, analysing, measuring and assessing the effectiveness and real capacity of tourism as a tool for co-operation also from an academic and research point of view. This event is the starting point for the recently constituted International Network of Research into Tourism, Co-operation and Development (COODTUR), the main objectives of which are to create knowledge about co-operation; centralise, share and transfer information and have a bearing on co-operation agencies. This, in fact, is the objective set by COODTUR for this congress.