Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; v. 2, n. 13,14 (2010); 761-769
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Resumo: Wine tourism phenomenon is a characteristic of modernity, with a double meaning: it is a complementary tourism activity to the national tourism offer. It includes tourism products where the knowledge of the wine and vineyards in their physical, cultural and gastronomic dimensions, i.e., symbolic, are exercised. It may prove to be a complementary activity of rural and agricultural wine, or the “motor” of other traditional activities, following a logic of “multiple-activities”. Worldwide this double-valence is recognized. In Portugal, this activity is still in its infancy. The main goal of this study is to understand the meaning, scale and shape of these complementarities, and how they allow local development and cultural identity. The option of a regional scale analysis allows for a better portray of their specificities, so the following regions in Portugal were selected: Minho, Douro, Alentejo and Setúbal. This paper aims to present the hypothesis that wine tourism is of particular relevance to these regions, not so much by jobs or profits involved, but for the process of internalization of the prestige and value that the work of “the art of making wine” leads. This image of a interesting rural region for those who visit and prestigious for those who participates in it, can be an advantage for the agricultural universe, as a lever of some local dynamics required for its establishment and perpetuation of people in this environment. The proposal that is made is to some extent, the “commercialization” of rural land, products and cultures, past and present, to ensure them a future.
