Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; v. 3, n. 17/18 (2012); 1257-1270
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Resumo: Wine regions have attracted increasing interest as leisure and tourism spaces, as a result of recent trends regarding specialized tourism demand, such as wine tourism. Although the literature about wine tourism has increased, it remains a relatively little studied area, especially in a perspective of understanding the role of landscape in the tourist experience lived.In this context, this paper aims to analyze the nature of the wine tourism experience from the point of view of tourists, comparing it with the view of wine producers and planning agents. In pursuing this objective a qualitative methodology was chosen, based on interviews conducted with tourists and planning agents in the Douro region, yielding an understanding of the importance of the landscape: (i) as a motivation for the visit, (ii) within destination image, (iii) in promoting tourism in the region, and (iv) for the satisfaction and evaluation of the visit. The results of these interviews were then compared with the study undertaken by Lavrador Silva (2008), which evaluated the views of the population and wine producers regarding the relevance of landscape for promoting tourism and wines in the Porto/Douro Demarcated Region (DDR). The results highlight the importance of landscape in the tourist experience lived in Favaios, village integrated in the DDR, where the landscape was considered “unique”, “overwhelming” and “stunning”, adjectives associated to strong emotions and representing an important aesthetic/ visual dimension of the experience, component largely appreciated and valued by both tourists and other stakeholders.
