Aldeias Vinhateiras: Requalificação Urbana, Turismo e Desenvolvimento Local no Douro

• Main Authors: Artur Cristóvão, Vera Medeiros, Rosário Melides
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Investigación Social y Turismo 2010-10-01
• Series: PASOS Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural
• Subjects: Douro; Villages wine countries; Local Development; Rural Tourism
• Online Access: http://www.pasosonline.org/Publicados/8410/PS0410_07.pdf

The Douro Region villages are generally rural spaces, fragile and with a drecreasing population, in which the primary economic sector is still quite important, particularly the wine making related activities. In order to revilatize some of these villages, in different municipalities, a major project was launched, including interventions in the areas of urban regeneration, socio-economic development and tourism promotion, including the Wine Villages’ Festival, in 2007. This project was object of study, looking at a major question: are these villages alive? In this article the major research results are presented, showing the difficulties such kind of interventions face, and some ideas are offered regarding the promotion of local development.