Abstract
Most of the strategies
developed to “save” rural territories in Europe have not been successful. One
of the main problems has been the adoption of the top-down paradigm in the
approach to the development of those territories. Portugal is a good example of
the difficulty of adopting a bottom-up paradigm. The main objective of this
paper is to present the perceptions of the local (including the residents) and
regional stakeholders acting at Boticas towards the set of resources available
and the development of the tourism industry. Boticas is a Northern Portuguese
rural low density municipality. Capturing those perceptions, the research aims contributing
to the establishment of a more integrated and innovative development strategy and,
this way, a more able one in what concerns profiting from the potential
associated to the growing of the tourism industry experienced lately by Portugal.
The adoption of a mixed-method to proceed to the evaluation of the resources
and capturing the perceptions on their tourist potential kept by the different
stakeholders is suggested. Empirical data was collected through a survey
applied to 373 of its residents and 25 interviews conducted to local and
regional actors, supported by an inventory performed of the cultural resources
and its capacity of being visited. We could conclude that residents tend to
have a very positive perception towards tourism development and that their
perceptions largely met the ones of other stakeholders.
Keywords: Rural Development; Tourism Planning; Perceptions;
Resources; Tourist Attributes; Stakeholders.
Paula Remoaldo
Lab2PT (Laboratory of
Landscape, Heritage and
Territory), University of Minho, Portugal, e-mail: paularemoaldo@gmail.com
Isabel Freitas
Lab2PT (Laboratory of
Landscape, Heritage and
Territory), University Portucalense, Portugal, e-mail: ifc@uportu.pt
Olga Matos
Lab2PT (Laboratory of
Landscape, Heritage and
Territory), Polytechnic
Institute of Viana do Castelo, e-mail: omatos@estg.ipvc.pt
Hélder Lopes
Lab2PT (Laboratory of Landscape, Heritage
and Territory), University
of Minho, Portugal, e-mail: htsltiago@gmail.com
Sara Silva
Lab2PT (Laboratory of Landscape, Heritage
and Territory), University
of Minho, Portugal, e-mail:
sara.catarina.g@gmail.com
Maria Dolores
Sánchez-Fernández
Lab2PT (Laboratory of Landscape,
Heritage and Territory), University of Corunha, e-mail: maria.msflores@gmail.com
J. Cadima Ribeiro
NIPE (Economic Policies Research Unit) and Lab2PT, University of Minho, Portugal, e-mail: jcadima@eeg.uminho.pt
Vitor Ribeiro
Lab2PT (Laboratory of Landscape, Heritage
and Territory), University
of Minho, Portugal, e-mail: vitor.geografia@gmail.com
(Resumo de artigo aceite para publicação em European Countryside, N. 3/2017 - September 2017)
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