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- Rural regeneration through creative tourism: local discourses on cultural heritagePublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Mendes, Teresa; Liberato, Dália; Brandão, Filipa; Esteves, Elsa; Liberato, PedroAlternative forms of tourism are gradually emerging, as tourism transforms itself and adopts new forms of consumption and development. It is therefore necessary to understand the new approaches to tourism sustainability in order to achieve more transformative results for destinations and their local communities. This research aims to identify creative tourism as the most equitable approach to achieving the sustainability and the regeneration of rural territories. Thus, the general objective is to understand how Cultural Heritage, as a tourist resource, can be used to promote regenerative impacts in a rural region of Portugal, particularly in Trás-os-Montes. As part of a qualitative methodology, the focus group interview technique was applied to three of the destination's stakeholders: Municipalities; Tourism agents; and Residents, to discuss the tourism promotion of a very particular heritage and its implications. The main results identify the greatest consensus among the participants, essentially regarding the suitability of creative tourism for the Cultural Heritage under study, from different perspectives. As well as five potential regenerative benefits for the destination: (i) Local Sourcing Practices, (ii) Social and Cultural Involvement, (iii) Sustainable Economic Performance, (iv) Inclusiveness Management, and (v) Education and Capacity Building, associated with nine United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Accessibility in tourism: optimizing the tourism experience through social sustainability interpretationPublication . Liberato, Pedro; Liberato, Dália; Vieira, Ana; Mendes, Teresa; Barreira, Hugo; Rodrigues, CristinaAccessibility has become one of the main key issues in tourism today, as it determines the extent to which an individual can participate in the activities/experiences provided by the sector in each destination. It ensures that all products, services, and facilities will be developed for everyone to use and that all will benefit from them. This is reflected in the accessibility related to the absence of obstacles to the use of the tourism product still present in the infrastructures, public transport, information, technology, or communication services. The improvement in accessibility may ensure opportunities for access, safely and autonomously, to equipment, transport, spaces, and information, allowing most segments to participate in all activities of daily life in an independent, comfortable, safe, and without discrimination of any kind. This research establishes the objective of identifying the accessibility measures adopted in the cities of Braga and Guimarães, in the Northern Region of Portugal, through issues related to the specific training of employees, the use of new technologies as a competitive advantage, the concern with presenting information in various formats and the appropriate means of transport. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, an exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the official responsible, stakeholders, interpreter guides, and associations of each tourist destination. The results show that, despite the improvements diagnosed in recent years, the regions still face some barriers. The measures frequently identified with the aim of optimizing accessibility in tourism destinations were specifically the use of access ramps (removable or definitive) and the introduction of adapted toilets.
- Improving accessibility as a strategy for social sustainability in tourism supplyPublication . Liberato, Dália; Liberato, Pedro; Vieira, Ana; Rodrigues, Cristina; Mendes, TeresaTourism is a citizens’ right. Therefore, all of society has the right to enjoy tourism experiences regardless of individual preferences. The increase in the elderly population (+ 65 years), the high number of people with disabilities (physical, hearing, intellectual, and cognitive) in the world and the growing desire to travel, has accelerated the interest and concern for accessibility, to provide a better experience to these tourists, increasing practices and strategies under the “Accessible and Inclusive Tourism.” However, this tourism segment still has a long way to go, since many barriers persist. The present research aims to analyze accessibility in cultural heritage. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of official entities, stakeholders, interpreter-guides, and associations of two medium-sized destinations in Northern Portugal (Braga and Guimarães), with the aim of assessing accessibility in the historical-cultural heritage in medium-sized cities of particular relevance. The city of Guimarães was distinguished as a World Heritage Site, being associated with the birth of Portugal as a nation, bringing an enormous relevance in terms of valorization and empowerment of its historical and cultural heritage by a segment that is increasingly more universal (accessible), having here the concern to evaluate urban policies in terms of accessibility to heritage and tourism destination. According to the typologies framed in Accessible Tourism, it is possible to highlight that, regarding the percentage of tourists with reduced mobility who visit tourism destinations, and, of these, which ones are interested in cultural heritage and what degree of satisfaction they express, the two tourism destinations analyzed do not account for this type of data, since it is a very residual public. Regarding other types of disabilities, some projects have been developed. Considering the definition of strategies to implement in the access to heritage, it is possible to evidence that, despite the improvements made by the destinations, the existing cultural heritage is not completely accessible, existing mainly architectural barriers. The results show that accessibility is being considered as a strategic opportunity for the targeted tourism destinations, however these are still partially accessible, and it is expected that the path to accessibility is a complex process and applicable in the medium to long term.