There may be a connection between the lack of availability of tourism professionals to work in the various areas (hotelaria, restauração, artesanato) and the increase in the supply of AL's in inland territories.
It is noticeable the preference of the conscious tourist who, beyond safety, look for sustainability, by more rural locations, but no less attractive than urban centers with more built heritage..
This reality does not jeopardize other traditional motivations and destinations, like the sun and the beach, golfe, Mall; regional asymmetries are blurring, but seasonal asymmetries are more difficult to dilute. Aliás, inside there is an imbalance between summer and winter but, essencialmente, between weekdays and weekends.
These asymmetries pose some challenges to the governance of these territories:
1- Measuring the capacity of infrastructures and adapting them to increased use.
2- Resist the temptation to over-modernize, because the identity of the place is lost, and the tourist likes what is different, original.
3- Ensure the balance between well-being and status quo of residents and tourist attractiveness.
4- Constitute a Strategic Decision Center, involving community representatives, of commerce, of industry, Hotel, restauração, crafts and technicians. Training local guides in local history and culture as a main or secondary activity would be very timely..
5- Ensure and update the operation and availability of the entire offer. The information contained in the guides for the existence of the "Monument to the Displaced", the "Little Chapel of São Macário", the wealth of “Sacred Baroque Art”, that the characteristic delicacy is "Mushroom", it defrauds expectations if the tourist visits and finds the Church closed, the monument, the so-called Casa das Cantigas, and at the restaurant you only find Bacalhau à Brás and Bife with French fries.
It is true that low-density municipalities will have difficulties in keeping all the heritage visible every day of the year.. But the Strategic Decision Center must come to a consensus on how to disseminate it through: complementarity with neighboring municipalities or the intermunicipal community and implement the territory's open week, several times a year, in which everything that is part of the cultural-tourist offer is functioning (gastronomia, activities, heritage visits, etc).
Luís Gonçalves
