Resumo: Tourist offices are welcoming spaces providing services that include the communication with visitors, the (re)construction of images and experiences of the destination and they may even stimulate deep emotional connections with the territory visited. In this paper we analyze their role as communication mediators between visitors and destinations, based on a case study in the Douro region, northern Portugal. The main objective of the study is to gain an understanding of the procedures of tourism information and communication carried out through the municipal tourism posts. A further aim is to analyze the transformation of many of these spaces into interactive tourist offices, implying significant changes in the processes and practices of communication with tourists. The analysis is underpinned by qualitative and multimethod fieldwork, although the qualitative approach is prominent. Specifically, empirical research has been carried out through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, netnography and documentary and statistical research. The data collected reveals the existence of structural constraints in many of the tourist offices and, on the other hand, highlights the importance of the human factor in the processes of tourism communication, which does not fail to give rise to a reflection about the roles and functions that these offices should assume in the framework of a digital society, replete with (un)information.
