Field Trip Northern Portugal

The accommodation and invitation of tourist to explore and reside in places away from the coastline and the big cities in the more rural and touristically less developed countryside is another potential pillar for Portugal to focus on in the future. Alternative forms of accommodation, e. g. in form of housing tourism, could not only contribute to decongestion and diversification of revenue flows across the country but also contribute significantly to overcoming demographic and social challenges in those remote areas that struggle in keeping their heritage alive. At the same time, for the tourists, rural tourism also cuts across several global megatrends from new remote work models, over increasing health consciousness, to the pursuit of deep connectivity among people and with their social and natural environments. Religious or spiritual tourism experiences such as the Camino de Santiago add to these trends and might be much appreciated by future travel generations as the opportunity to escape stress and conventions and find back to themselves. 

With regards to bringing local heritage closer to tourists, the North of Portugal, especially the district of Ilhavo also shows that events and festivals that promote local traditions, industries (e. g. the fishery or pottery industry), historical events (e. g. Portugal as a centrum of commerce in the Roman era) and products (e. g. handcrafts) can be very powerful catalysts of tourism development. What is remarkable is its conscious focus on the local community and their involvement in the planning and realization of the festival, as grassroot projects have shown. That also underlines that Portugal probably does good in concentrating its focus on local residents, and domestic and proximity tourists that naturally take pride in and appreciate the local culture and connect with the territory and the community more easily, rather than trying to attract highly demanding and hard to satisfy international visitors. 

Comparable cases of the Balearic Islands or other destinations who promoted rural tourism as a tool for diversification of the industry highlight the risk that uncontrolled urban sprawl and scattering of tourism housing and infrastructure could hold with regards to sustainable, resource-saving water and energy supply and gentrification. To avoid those negative externalities, integral large-scale planning will be key to develop holistic concepts for territorial development that allow synergies instead of sabotaging each other. 

When directing tourism flows to the countryside and to other smaller destinations, accessibility, and other establishments of tourism infrastructure such as signage and multimedia visitor guides will be needed to ensure adequate orientation a satisfactory travel experience in less touristic areas. The infrastructure that shall be erected there should be such as it incentivizes sustainable behavior and tourism practices among the tourists.

Lastly, when following the niche market approach, it must be ensured that the image of Portugal as a tourism destination is not too much fragmented into its individual components as that will make it harder to attract international attention. On the contrary, the different forms of tourism that can be practiced in Portugal, be it gastronomy tourism, active tourism, rural tourism, artwork tourism or religious tourism, shall be connected with each other through emotional storytelling that stresses their mutual re-enforcement. Only together the identity of Portugal can be captured authentically.