Turismo do Algarve, as a member of the Dynamizing Group of the Portuguese Industrial Tourism Network, last week presented its offer and the potential of this segment in the region, at an online meeting, which was attended by the Secretary of State for Tourism, Rita Marques, from the president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo.
According to the Algarve Tourism Region, this «sharing of national and international experiences revealed the importance of Industrial Tourism for the development of the territory and local communities, in addition to making it possible to attract new visitors from internal and external markets».
Turismo do Algarve emphasizes that «it has been supporting the identification and structuring of a vast set of resources in the region so that they become tourist products that can diversify the local offer, boost the interior (rural areas or low-density territories) and , due to its particularities, generate new motivations to visit with the capacity to attract tourists throughout the year».
João Fernandes, president of RTA, states that «the Algarve has an enormous wealth and diversity of activities, for which it is traditionally known, and it is up to the region and its local agents to take advantage of this differentiation and promote it to visitors. Due to its characteristics, Industrial Tourism allows us to value and develop the Algarve region, while at the same time enriching the experience of those who visit us».
For RTA, this is a «a new challenge when, at the present time, travel trends point to a greater appetite on the part of tourists for more authentic experiences in destinations, which allows them, in addition to learning, to play a role each time. more active and participative in the activities».
Currently, there are already in the Algarve «several projects in different sectors of activities, such as the Portimão Museum, activities associated with the cork route, in São Brás de Alportel, the underground rock salt mine, in Loulé, das Salinas do Grelha, in Olhão, or A Casa do Medronho, in Monchique.
«All value the local heritage and are a reference for the products they offer and the experiences they provide to visitors», praises RTA.
«We continue to survey resources in this segment in the sixteen municipalities of the region to promote new sustainable tourism proposals, which combine modernity with industrial heritage. This is an approach that privileges the specificities of the regions and it is to this extent that the Algarve has to take advantage of what differentiates it from other destinations and create synergies to grow from an economic and social point of view», stresses, for his part, João Fernandes.
The meeting took place within the scope of the Industrial Tourism project – Program for structuring the 2020 offer, coordinated by Turismo de Portugal and articulated with the country's tourist regions.
This project «intends to give a boost to the consolidation of the Industrial Tourism network, taking care of the actions to be developed in the scope of resources, product and promotion and sale, as well as in the management model. The objective is to increase the existing offer, supported by visits to factories in operation and to museum equipment linked to old industrial complexes and know-how, complemented by different experiences of contact with products and production processes».
The program is promoted by the Dynamizing Group of the Portuguese Industrial Tourism Network.
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