NF Cork is located in Torre Natal, on the outskirts of Faro. It is a factory that, in addition to producing decorative accessories made from cork and coverings for floors and walls, has been dedicated to another activity for the last five years. Every week, it receives 10 to 15 visits from tourists, eager to discover a different Algarve.
The visits began six years ago and are a success, as explained by Tânia Loução.
The worker, who usually directs visitors, says that it is essentially foreigners who are looking for this tourist product, referred by hotels.
NF Cork is an example, that the Sul Informação met last Friday, March 31, at the invitation of the Algarve Tourism Board, an area in which the RTA wants to invest.
This is industrial tourism: that is, encouraging tourists to get to know companies dedicated to typical activities in the region, such as the production of salt, preserves, cork or medronho.
On the part of Tânia Loução, the experience has been very good.
There is even “a growth in demand” from tourists, eager to get to know the NF Cork factory, where, in addition to the machines from other times, visitors can learn about the history of cork and how the factory works.
From the 10th to the 16th of April, this bet that the RTA wants to make in industrial tourism will be boosted.
For seven days, there will be the second edition of the National Agenda for the Discovery of Industrial Tourism, in which the Algarve is also featured.
In total, there will be 19 activities, from companies that already receive visits.
In addition to NF Cork and another Algarve cork company (Eco-Fábrica de Cortiça), there will also be, for example, wine tourism proposals (Quinta dos Vales, Quinta da Tôr, Adega Convento Paraíso, Cabrita Wines and Quinta do Frances).
Conserveira do Arade will have its doors open for anyone wanting to discover how canned fish is produced, with the possibility of tasting some products, as well as the Monterosa nurseries, in Olhão, with the right to a guided tour of the olive grove and the mill.
Salt production is also part of the program with the “Salinas do Grelha” or a bolder proposal: going down to the depths to visit the rock salt mine, in Loulé.
This National Agenda, which brings together activities all over the country, also has a guided tour of the Portimão Museum and neighboring areas, where particular focus will be given to the industrial and social reality, and to an exhibition, in Vila Real de Santo António, on the “Canning Industry and Lithographic Arts”.
Fátima Catarina, vice-president of the Algarve Tourism Region, explained that the objective is to «expand this product [industrial tourism] in the Algarve», also structuring the offer.
«It is something that can also help to combat seasonality because it is a product that we have access to all year round», she also considered.
Teresa Ferreira, from Turismo de Portugal, said that industrial tourism can also "contribute to tourists staying longer" in a region.
To see the complete program of activities, in the Algarve, of the “National Agenda for the Discovery of Industrial Tourism”, just click here
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