Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; v. 3, n. 17/18 (2012); 1309-1324
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Resumo: The tourism sector in general and in particular new ways of doing and thinking tourism, from which to enjoy the cultural and natural resources in order to contribute to the development of the territory, especially in this case the religious tourism, in recent years have been the focus of attention of several of economic, political and scientific. The Northwest of Portugal, the existence of a strong set of structures and traditions of religious order asserts itself as a region where religious tourism can contribute to achieving this goal.This research aims to understand the importance of religious tourism in the context of multiple relationships in the main sanctuaries of Northwest Portugal, thus providing a contribution to a better understanding of the dynamics that occur in respect of the shrines with the territory, based on characteristics of the different activities taking place at, and from, shrines. Once selected the main shrines, was applied a questionnaire to economic agents that operate within the sanctuaries, as well as interviews with various institutional actors. The information gathered allowed us to obtain a set of detailed information about each shrine, especially the knowledge about the characteristics of existing economic activities, knowledge about the forms of management and organization, as well as on the institutional relationships between the various economic, political and religious.As a result of the analysis made, are clearly evidenced the characteristics of economic activities, which represent a low socio-economic impact on local populations, both in terms of job creation and promotion of local products, such as the strengthening of local and regional economy, highlighting also the reduced coordination between the various actors involved in the sanctuaries, it is not clear that there is a joint strategy that can maximize existing resources in support of a development strategy for the surrounding territory.
