Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; n. 12 (2009); 65-79
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Resumo: Tourism is seen as an important factor of regional economic development, being a structural element of the global economy dynamic. Tourism also contributes for the consolidation of economic integration process of countries through the creation of links between regions.If a region seeks to become attractive and competitive in the tourism sector, it needs to bet in the specificities that differentiate it from the others, valuing its own resources and becoming them innovative.The Cycle Pathways constitutes an excellent opportunity for local municipalities and, specially, for regions, because pathways can help to define and sustain strategies of more competitive tourism development, associated to the board of available natural resources and contributing, in this way, for an effective sustainable development process.“Baixo Vouga”, a region in Central Portugal, whose most important destination is the city of Aveiro, and also the wide Region of Littoral Central of Portugal, present a board of natural resources that are diversified and excellent. In this area we highlight the presence of contrasting landscapes, as the Mountain and the Sea, and the constant presence of “Ria de Aveiro”, that confer to this region a remarkable image and an attractive landscape.This diversity permits to think that, if to this board of opportunities will be possible to increase the capacity of innovate, and if it is possible to imagine and do different, probably, it will be possible to structure a sustainable and competitive model of regional economic development, in a straiten relationship with the desirable environmental equilibrium. In this way, we think that it is the time and the moment to consider the opportunity of constructing a regional net of cycle pathway in the Littoral Central of Portugal, starting in the “Baixo Vouga” Region.
