Sustainable Use of Endogenous Touristic Resources of Rural Areas: Two Portuguese Case Studies

Vol. 5 Nº2 págs. 193-207. 2007

www.pasosonline.org

Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas: two portuguese case studies

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro † J. Cadima Ribeiro ‡ Universidade do Minho (Portugal)

Resumen: La evidencia empírica muestra que el turismo puede mostrarse como una contribución real al desarrollo regional y, en el caso de territorios remotos y económicamente deprimidos, es uno de los mejores sectores para conseguir estas metas. Este papel del turismo es posible sacando beneficio de la dotación de recursos endógenos de esos territorios. Mientras tanto, las oportunidades no son las mismas para cada región y es fácil de comprender que, considerando la disponibilidad de recursos, no todos podrán optar por el sector del turismo como estrategia de desarrollo. De otro lado, el desarrollo sostenible depende tanto de la conservación como de la valorización de los recursos potenciales y de la diversi- ficación de las actividades y productos turísticos, además de las opciones de los agentes y gestores. Par- tiendo de la investigación empírica llevada a cabo en las municipalidades portuguesas de Caminha y Paredes de Coura, y en las que se encuentra interesada la Tourism in Rural Areas (TRA), nosotros pre- sentamos en este artículo una evaluación preliminar de los impactos sociales y económicos de las estra- tegias turísticas seguidas. También apuntamos algunas implicaciones que persiguen mejorar futuros diseños para la dotación de recursos en estos territorios. Partimos de que el turismo se basa en la calidad, lo cual sirve a los intereses de las poblaciones locales.

Palabras clave: Recursos endógenos; Desarrollo sostenible; Turismo en áreas rurales.

Abstract: Empirical evidence shows that tourism can give a real contribution to regional development and, in the case of certain remote and economic lagged territories, it is one of the best sectors to achieve this goal. This role of tourism as to do, namely, with the possibility of taking profit from the endogenous resources endowment of these territories. Meanwhile, the opportunities are not the same for each region and it is easy to understand that, considering the resources available, not every one has the choice to base its development strategy in the tourism sector. On the other hand, sustainable development depends, both, on conservation and valorisation of the resources potential and on diversification of tourism activities and products, no matter the agents or policy options are. Based on empirical research carried out in Caminha and Paredes de Coura portuguese municipalities, and in what Tourism in Rural Areas (TRA) is concerned, we present in this paper a preliminary evaluation of the social and economic impacts of the tourism strategies followed. We also aim to extract some policy implications in order to better design future approaches to this issue of taking profit from resources endowment of territories. The starting point is the one of tourism based on quality, which serves the interests of local populations.

Keywords: Endogenous resources; Sustainable development; Tourism in rural areas.

† • Laurentina Cruz Vareiro. IPCA - Escola Superior de Gestão. Arcozelo – Portugal. E-mail: [email protected] ‡ • J. Cadima Ribeiro. EEG e NIPE. Universidade do Minho. Campus de Gualtar. Braga – Portugal. E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction reason behind tourists travelling to those territories. As a matter of fact, visitors It is usually admitted that tourism plays travel to those regions either to know their an important role in economic development, touristic attributes either to enjoy activities providing long-term benefits to local programmed to satisfy tourists’ expecta- economies, mostly when implemented on a tions. sustained way. The capacity of tourism to establish synergies with several other ac- Tourism in Rural Areas tivities, like lodging, feeding, drinking, transport and entertainment services for Tourism as an endogenous resources tourists, makes tourism a structuring sec- strategy tor of many economies. In recent times, tourism has been advo- In many developed countries and in de- cated as an efficient way to promote the veloping ones tourism is today a strategic development of the so-called less favoured sector. This is the Portuguese case where or lagged regions. However, in spite of the tourism is presented as a strategic cluster remarkable perspectives tourism sector can by the Economic and Social Development open to economies in the medium and long Plan for 2000/2006. In this document tour- term, it is essential tourism will be taken ism is officially claimed to be one pivotal from as a sustainable economic and envi- activity to achieve the economic and social ronmental growth approach. In this sense, development of the nation and of its re- it will be crucial regions put their emphasis gions, particularly for the remote and not only on diversification of tourism activi- lagged ones. ties and products, but also on strategic Assuming the analysis of the available partnerships, as well as on conservation touristic resources crucial to define the and valorisation of the cultural and natural tourist vocation of a territory, and, above heritage. Indeed, tourism needs to diversify all, to select the best touristic alternative and to decentralise itself, taking advantage within the range of available possibilities of the potential of regions and their ability (Cerro, 1993), this investigation aims to to generate alternative tourism products present a preliminary evaluation of the (Ribeiro et al., 2001). social and economic impacts of tourism in For the success of the tourism activities certain rural areas. In this case, the mu- in certain territories, it becomes important nicipalities chosen were Caminha and to rely on the local resources. This thought Paredes de Coura, two Portuguese munici- comes from the endogenous development palities located in the Spanish (Galiza) paradigm, developed since late border. Meanwhile, we believe Tourism in 1970’s/beginning of the 1980’s in opposition Rural Areas (TRA) will be only an instru- to the traditional regional models and poli- ment of development if the established cies. strategy succeeds to incorporate the local As it is common known, the traditional values and culture. regional policy follows an approach “from Taking these two cases, we also aim to above”, a growing model relying on spatial extract some policy indications, in order to concentration and spatial economic redis- better design future approaches to this tribution of economic activities in order to issue of taking profit from resources en- attain the reduction of regional income dowment of territories. disparities, using, for such, external re- From this perspective, following Boullon sources. As a consequence of its scarce per- (2000), it is useful to remind that tourism, formance, this model has fallen into disuse. like any other economic industry, tends to As Barquero (1995) refers, the “new” ap- locate in the most favourable area of the proach “from bellow”, more concerned with physical space, that is, in those places en- the economic development of cities and dowed with the adequate attributes accord- territories and with reducing regional de- ing to the nature of the activity. Therefore, velopment disparities, makes use of not tourist attractions are inputs into the tour- only external resources but, above all, en- ism sector and they constitute the main dogenous resources. This new strategy sus-

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 195

tains the idea that economic development opment factor and for others it constitutes doesn't have to be necessarily polarised and a small co-adjuvant factor with more or less concentrated in large cities; it can be dif- expression according to the existing condi- fuse if regions have capability to use suc- tions (Cunha, 1997). cessfully the endogenous resources and the Indeed, it is now widely accepted that potential of territories. the conditions are changing. A society in The expression "endogenous develop- constant mutation, ecological more and ment", itself, (or "development from below", more conscious, searching for a new quality as some prefer to call it) reflects, as under- of life and alerted for the negative effects of lined by Polèse (1998), the idea that success mass tourism, has provided the bases for of a region depend, lastly, on its own capac- the diversification of tourism activities and ity to initiate and lead an economic growing products. As a direct result, the tourism process that will allow it to become pros- sector is quickly developing new products perous, based on the initiative and techni- and market segments, opening a wide field cal know-how of its inhabitants and com- of opportunities. One of these products, panies. This way, the sources of develop- which has faced recently an increasing de- ment lie in the region itself, in its people, mand, is tourism in rural areas (TRA). its institutions, its sense of community and, The development of this market cannot perhaps first of all, in the innovation and be considered accidental or temporary; it is entrepreneurship capacity of its population the result of the evolution of the societal (Polèse, 1998a). model. The saturation of some coastal tour- The involvement of local people and en- istic areas and the evolution of tourist mo- terprises in development planning allows tivations transformed the rural space in an the use of the available resources, whilst important tourist destination, particularly designing competitive solutions for resolv- when it gathers attributes of singularity ing their growth problems and constraints. and authenticity in what concerns to na- This development doesn't mean the imple- ture/ecology, heritage and culture. mentation of great industrial projects and, As a consequence, attributes as the en- according to Henriques and Neves (1986), vironmental quality, the peacefulness, the should be decided at the smallest territorial contact with nature and a non massified scale and starting from the territorial iden- space, as well as the preference for shorter tity of populations. It implies a decentral- periods of vacations, are issues that have ized public administration, guided by in- increased the tourist's interest for rural termediate organisms which will support in spaces. On the other hand, financial bene- material or financial terms the companies. fits made available by the European Union As a result, it is expected that local devel- and other public sources allowed a wide opment might generate a reduction of the and heterogeneous supply that, somehow, dependence of the region from national reflects the rising importance of this modal- governments and external economic agents ity of tourism. (Polèse, 1998). It is worth mentioning that the empha- Tourism as a sustainable activity sis given to local environments has the Regarding rural development, tourism merit of putting the emphasis on resources in rural areas has assumed the role of the and capabilities of regions, but, as Polèse better placed activity to achieve the socio- (1998) says, it can also be the largest economic revitalisation of lagged regions. weakness of the model, once the resources This role will be as successful as tourism of territories (“milieux ") are not the same might incorporate resources, history, tradi- everywhere. tions and culture of each region. This is the case of the tourism activity. Rural tourism is a growing sector and a In fact, the opportunities are not similar for powerful instrument towards the diversifi- each region and, considering the resources cation of rural economies affected by the available, not every one has the choice to decline of agriculture, as well as a factor base its development strategy in the tour- favouring pluri-activity taking the syner- ism sector. For some regions tourism as- gies it is able to generate with a wide range sumes a vital role, for others it is a devel- of other activities. This type of tourism,

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

196 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

although being a minor part of the total socio-cultural activities; tourist market, is able to offer a valuable - this type of tourism has to be organized contribution to the sustainability of rural and managed for the rural population in economies. This can be observed not only in order to optimize the direct and indirect terms of income and employment generated benefits of tourism in those areas. There- but also in terms of natural resource con- fore, rural tourism should not be managed servation or preservation, as well as in by a reduced number of managers and in- what refers to the rehabilitation of the ar- termediary agents who don't belong to the tistic and cultural heritage of rural spaces rural community. On the contrary, the ru- it is able to produce –just mentioning the ral society must give their consent to the more evident positive impacts (Vera, 1997). strategy and be directly committed. Only Although the development of the rural this way is possible to get the partnership tourism has numerous advantages, it can between the community members neces- also cause several problems. In order to sary to develop the complex tasks involved minimize these problems, it is necessary to in and the preservation of touristic re- define alternative tourist development sources. strategies which attain a responsible use of Given this, any rural tourism develop- rural territories, searching to rend comment should elect, as Vera (1997) suggests, patible the interests of tourism, environ- the following targets: sustainable use of ment and local community ones (Vera, resources; revitalization of local economies; 1997; Bote Gómez, 2001). quality of management; integration of local In this sense, the definition of the model population; organized and controlled devel- or strategy of tourism development in rural opment, which implies to reject mass tour- areas should choose to elect the following ism; and, definitively, sustainability. targets, which are quite different from the ones envisaged by the traditional tourism The TRA in Portugal industry (Bote Gómez, 2001): - to match conservation and develop- Before moving forward, it is important ment of touristic resources. Indeed, having to present some statistical data on last rural landscapes usually an important years evolution of tourism in rural areas in natural and socio-cultural heritage, the Portugal. tourism development should respect the In what respects the tourism in rural areas, integrity of its resources (attractive land- the beginning of the 21st century is charac- scape, peacefulness and resting ambience, terised by the growth of the number of TRA popular architecture, etc.). As a conse- establishments1 and the number of beds quence, it is necessary to avoid, on one offered, in all types of facilities. This has hand, the `fundamentalist or static protec- been happening since the first year that we tionism` and, on the other hand, the ' pro- retained (Table 1). ductiviste development ', as both cause As illustrated by Table 1, after a first resources degradation or destruction and stage, most of the establishments that en- the misuse of rural space; tered in operation belonged to the Turismo - taking the concentration and large Rural (TR), Agro-Turismo (AG) and Casas scale of the supply which characterizes the de Campo (CC) types of accommodation. mass tourism strategy, it is suggested to Such evolution contributed to the reduction adopt instead a non concentrated and small of the proportion of the Turismo de Habita- scale supply (of lodging and recreation). ção (TH) type (starting point of the TRA in This supply must be coordinate at the local Portugal) in the total number of establish- and the commercial levels (due to promo- ments. tional, commercial and management rea- In 2002, from a total of 866 TRA estab- sons); lishments functioning throughout Portugal, - besides the financial returns necessary 244 were devoted to TH, 358 to TR, 145 to to obtain the viability of investments made, AG, 116 to CC and 3 integrated TA. this strategy favours the contact with na- The north part of the country, just as in ture and an authentic dialogue between the previous years, continued to be the region rural and urban population through a set of with larger lodging supply (3568 beds, in-

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 197

tegrated at 1813 rooms, distributed by 372 mous Regions of Azores and Madeira were, TRA establishments). The Centre region however, the ones that presented last years occupied the second place, with 1672 beds, higher growth rates. in 171 TRA establishments. The Autono-

Number of establishments Number of bed places Types of facilities 2002 2001 2000 1999 Average Var. % 2002 2001 2000 1999 Average Var. % Turismo de Habitação 244 228 229 214 4,5% 2677 2371 2375 2183 7,2% Turismo Rural 358 284 280 262 11,5% 3256 2379 2347 2208 14,8% Agroturismo 145 122 119 115 8,3% 1738 1386 1350 1295 10,8% Casas de Campo 116 51 40 15 107,2% 763 340 221 90 107,9% Turismo de Aldeia 3 (a) - - - 99 (a) - - - Total 866 685 668 606 13,1% 8533 6476 6293 5776 14,5% Table 1. Total number of TRA establishments and accommodation capacity, by types. (a) – Type not considered in 2001. Source: DGT

Graph 1

Number of TRA establisments, by type (1999/2002)

400 350 300 250 2002 200 1999 150 100 50 0 Turismo de Turismo Rural Agroturismo Casas de Turismo de Habitação Campo Aldeia

Number of establishments Number of bed places NUTS II 2002 2001 2000 1999 Average Var % 2002 2001 2000 1999 Average Var % North region 372 283 274 262 13,1% 3568 2597 2528 2394 15,2% Centre region 171 132 130 118 13,8% 1672 1230 1199 1102 15,8% Lisbonne and V. Tejo 99 95 96 98 0,4% 1064 981 985 1003 2,1% Alentejo region 111 90 84 84 10,2% 1239 904 831 844 14,8% Algarve region 24 19 19 18 10,6% 247 207 207 197 8,1% Continente 777 619 603 580 10,7% 7790 5919 5750 5540 12,8% A. R. Madeira 41 31 30 15 45,2% 361 264 250 116 52,6% A.R Azores 48 35 35 11 85,1% 382 293 293 120 58,2% Total 866 685 668 606 13,1% 8533 6476 6293 5776 14,5% Table 2. Number of TRA establishments and accommodation capacity, by NUT II. Source: DGT

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

198 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

In what concerns the TRA demand, reading of data, excluding the greater according the visitor’s nationality, if we urban centres and the coastal zones, we take the 2002 we conclude that 52,4% would get a better understanding of the were foreign and 47,6% Portuguese. Ger- real situation). On the other hand, the many occupied the first place, followed by occupation-bed rates, in 2002 (just as in United Kingdom and Holland. However, previous years), were quite low (17,5%, on just this last country increased its weight, average), far away from occupational comparing with the previous year. rates of the remaining categories of tour- To better understand the dimension of istic establishments (estimated to have TRA in Portugal, it is important to keep reached 41,1%). in mind the following aspects: although An obvious seasonal pattern in the the TRA establishments represented tourist demand is verified, not only in the 31,3% of total lodging, they just repre- foreign visitors' behaviour but also in the sented 3,9% of the rooms supply and 3,4% national ones. Meanwhile, national visi- of the national accommodation capacity tors demand is significantly less concen- (even so, if we make a more meticulous trated than the foreigner one.

Graph 2

Nights spent in TRA estimates, by nationality, NUTS II (2002)

300.000 250.000 200.000 Portugal 150.000 Estrangeiro 100.000 50.000 0 Norte Centro Lisboa e Alentejo Algarve R.A. R.A. Total Vale do Açores Madeira Tejo

Graph 3

Occupation rates, by NUTS II (2002)

70,0 Norte 60,0 Centro 50,0 Lisboa e Vale do Tejo 40,0 Alentejo 30,0 Algarve 20,0 R. A. Açores R. A. Madeira 10,0 Total 0,0 l ro o o i bri h bro bro A Maio Julh m m Jane Março Jun Agosto tembro e Outubro ove Fevereiro S N Deze

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 199

Graph 4

Occupation rates, by type (2002)

50,0 45,0 40,0 35,0 Turismo de Habitação 30,0 Turismo Rural 25,0 Agro-turismo 20,0 Casas de Campo 15,0 Total 10,0 5,0 0,0

l o o o o ro b bro Abri Maio Julh u Janeir Març Junho Agost ut O ezembro Fevereiro Setem NovembroD

In fact, seasonality is a major problem present a preliminary evaluation of the that the TRA has to face, representing social and economic impacts of the strate- the months of July to September those gies followed. where the demand is larger (with occupa- These two municipalities of the Minho- tional rates above 20%), reaching, in to- Lima NUT III are located in the north- tal, about 45% of the total annual book- west of Portugal, in the border with Spain ing. January, November and December (Galiza). However, Caminha is located in correspond to the low season (with occu- the coast-line and has already some tradi- pational rates under 10%). tion in TRA, while Paredes de Coura, Such seasonal patterns may find ex- inland town of Alto Minho, seems being planation in the fact that some of the now discovering this touristic product. TRA establishments do not open on an The data were collected through face- annual basis. They are usually closed to-face inquiry, directed to the universe of during the low season, that is, the tradi- TRA establishments installed in the terri- tionally low season in what regards sun tories we chose to analyse. The interviews and seaside tourism. took place between November and De- If one observes the occupation-bed cember 2004. The receptivity to the in- rates, by types of TRA facilities, we rec- quiry has shown to be high, existing just ognised that Casas de Campo are the a case in Caminha and two cases in the TRA establishments with higher occupa- Paredes de Coura municipality where we tional rates (30,1%, in 2002). There, the found not readiness to answer to the seasonal levels are less evident, which questionnaire. In these three cases the allows to justify last years increase in the data was collected from official statistical number of this type of establishments. sources. In the next section of the paper we Case studies present the results we got. In order to better design future approaches to the Based on empirical research carried issue of taking profit from resources en- out in Caminha and Paredes de Coura dowment of territories, after the results Portuguese municipalities, this study presentation we suggest some policy im- seeks to understand the specific paths plications extracted from these two case that took the TRA implementation in the studies. above mentioned municipalities and to

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

200 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

The case of Caminha tors have the possibility of exploring the existing exuberant environment and landscapes, as already mentioned. The municipality of Caminha is di- 2 In the Caminha municipality, the TRA vided in 20 parishes , distributed by an is represented by the houses shown in area of about 138 km2. According to the Table 3. 2001 Census, Caminha possessed 16 897 The analysis of Table 3 allows conclud- inhabitants, having benefited from a ing, on one hand, that these houses are population increase since the previous present in just six of the twenty parishes census. Its active population rounded 7 of the municipality and, on the other thousand inhabitants, distributed by the hand, that all the dwellings are located in tertiary sector (59%), the secondary sector the coastline, extending for the whole coast of Caminha. Of those establish- (34%) and the primary one, with just 7% ments, one of them is devoted to the mo- of the active population. dality of Hotel Rural 3 (in the beginning it Endowed with varied and attractive was classified as Turismo Rural), another landscapes, the municipality of Caminha takes the form of Turismo de Habitação, possesses diversified and qualified natu- and the remaining five are devoted to ral, patrimonial and cultural resources, Turismo Rural. which allowed the growth of the tourism In what concerns the characteristics of industry, mainly the one related with sun and seaside. However, the whole year, the TRA establishments and evolution of mostly during the periods of festivities the property, Table 4 synthesizes some and in the weekends, many people choose important additional elements. Caminha as their tourist destination. It is The three houses placed closer to the also elected as local for having a second centre of Caminha (Quinta da Graça, residence. Casa de Leiras and Casa do Esteiró) have The geomorphologic configuration is a high historical and architectonic value quite varied. It is a place to where con- and they suffered slight alterations re- verge three rivers (Minho, Coura and garding its original style. Âncora). It is also endowed with some hills and small mountains. Those are the The remaining ones, equally of recog- cases of Argela, Venade, Vilarelho, Cris- nized historical and architectonic value, telo and Arga, whose quota approaches were in the past the head of agricultural the 700 meters of altitude. In almost the explorations that, with time, were broken whole municipality, the climate is mild into fragments. Nowadays, in none of the and reasonable pleasant, with strong cases agricultural activities still occur. As influence of the sea. a consequence, the surrounding lands The TRA has some presence in have given place to beautiful gardens and Caminha, not just because of its historical fantastic landscapes. and architectonic heritage, namely its old and elegant houses, but also because visi-

Identification of the TRA types of Parish Distance to mu- Activity be- houses facilities nicipality centre ginning Hotel Rural Casa da Anta HR Lanhelas 6 km 1983 Quinta da Graça TH Vilarelho 0,5 km 1985 Casa da Eira TR Moledo 2,5 km 1991 Casa da Torre TR Ancora 9 km 1995 Casa de Leiras TR Matriz 0,5 km 2001 Quinta da Cantareira TR Vilar de Mouros 5 km 2002 Casa do Esteiró TR Vilarelho 1,5 km - Table 3. Identification and location of the TRA establishments, in 2004 (Caminha). Source: Authors’ elaboration

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 201

Identification of the houses Total area of the Century of con- Generations in Before property struction the family TRA Hotel Rural Casa da Anta Nr XVII 2 Farm Quinta da Graça 1,5 ha XVII Acquired Dwelling Casa da Eira 5000 m2 XIX Acquired Farm Casa da Torre 5000 m2 XIX 3 Dwelling Casa de Leiras 2 ha XVII/XVIII Since always Dwelling Quinta da Cantareira 4800 m2 XVIII Acquired Farm Casa do Esteiró - XVIII Since always Dwelling Table 4. Brief characterization of the TRA establishments (Caminha). Source: Authors’ elaboration. * Nr – Didn’t answer

All the houses have been restored in improvements. In the remaining cases its interior to provide their tourists with they used their own capitals and bank modern-day comforts, while still preserv- credit. ing the original architecture. Just in two In what regards the characteristics of cases the owners made use of public fi- the establishments, Table 5 supplies a nancial supports for the accomplished general picture.

HR Casa da Quinta Casa Casa Casa Quinta da Casa de Rooms and services Anta Graça Eira Torre Leiras Cantareira Esteiró

Meals room X** X* X* X* X* X* X* Private living room X X Common living room X X X X X X Card/billiard room X*** X Swimming pool X X X X Children’s playground X Bicycles X X X Table 5. Rooms and services available to tourists (Caminha)Source: Authors’ elaboration. * only breakfast // ** it has a restaurant // *** in construction

As shown by Table 5, excluding the imity to sea and fluvial beaches was the TRA unit that possesses a restaurant, all justification pointed out by two of the the houses serve only breakfast (accord- touristic houses for not having a swim- ing to Portuguese rules, that meal is in- ming pool, although they recognize the cluded in the price of the accommoda- importance of this kind of equipment. tion). The reason pointed out by the op- It is useful to mention that, although erators comes from the existence in the all the houses are open during all the neighbourhood of quality restaurants. year, the touristic demand is highly sea- Besides the comfort, we could under- sonal, being concentrate on the months stand that there is some concern with the from June to September, just as it hap- entertainment and pleasure the guests pens at the national level, with average can have. Thus, the houses are providing length of stay of 4 days. The age groups on-site facilities in order to please the that demands more this touristic product tourist and keep him occupied. The prox- in Caminha is the one aged from 30 to 60

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

202 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

years, not only in the national tourists' partnerships with tourism agencies, case, but also in the foreigners' one. Ac- mainly in what refers to foreigners’ re- cording to the data collected, one may cruitment. This same idea emerged also conclude that the Spanish tourist demand in Paredes de Coura, to which we will isn’t relevant, in spite of the proximity refer in the next section. with Galiza. By nationality, visitors of Some owners of the TRA units re- Caminha TRA units come, mostly, from vealed, equally, disappointment for the Germany, United Kingdom and Holland. lack of cooperation and dynamism of their This is remarkably similar to what hap- business partners. Some have referred pens at national level. Another issue we that there are operators that show satis- would like to underline is the kind of at- faction with the seasonal character of the tendance it is offered by these TRA existing touristic demand, not demon- houses. As a matter of fact, there isn’t a strating interest in the change of the standardised treatment of the guests, ‘state of the things’. that is, each house receives them differently, although having in mind to receive The case of Paredes de Coura the visitors with quality. As it was already mentioned, the Hotel Located in the heart of Alto Minho, the Rural Casa da Anta, complementarily to municipality of Paredes de Coura incor- the TRA accommodation facility, has a porates 21 parishes, distributed by 138,4 typical restaurant, which makes available km2. According to the Census of 2001, its the typical gastronomy of Minho. This population was 9415 inhabitants, repre- restaurant serves not only the tourists senting a decrease of 9,8% in the resident accommodated in the TRA unit but also population since 1991. any other consumer, and, this way, con- The analysis of the evolution and dis- stitutes a complement (appreciable) of tribution of the active population by main revenue. activity sectors allows emphasising the The implemented inquiry allowed, change in the structure of the economic equally, to conclude that the management activities this municipality faced across of the touristic houses is driven by people recent decades, from a starting point of that already has an advanced age: just in an agricultural base. In fact, since the Quinta da Graça case the age is inferior 80’s that the primary sector has been to 60 years. Apart the case of the just suffering a substantial decrease. The em- mentioned TRA unit, whose owner is a ployment in this activity sector has fallen Dutch lady, the remaining ones have Por- from 47% in 1991 to 18,5% in 2001. On tuguese owners, although just one is the other hand, the secondary and terti- natural of the Caminha municipality. ary sectors faced a strong increment, oc- The data also show that the proprie- cupying in 2001, 38,1 and 43,4% of the tors have, in general, a high education labour force, respectively. level. Regarding the employment gener- The municipality’s historical, monu- ated, the collected data make clear that mental and artistic heritage includes the amount of contracted workers is very meaningful archaeological and ethnologi- reduced and comes, mostly, from the mu- cal remains, milestones, Roman bridges, nicipality, itself. The level of instruction medieval portions of the ‘Portuguese is low and in contrast with what is com- Route to Santiago’, a medieval bridge, the mon in the tourism sector, as an all, these Romanesque church of Rubiães, the pro- employees work the whole year in the tected natural area of Corno do Bico, touristic houses. within other visiting attractions. This As a final note, it is important to men- makes of Paredes de Coura a privileged tion the dissatisfaction shown by the TRA area to the development of rural tourism. owners regarding the promotion made of In this sense, it is strange that 70% of the its tourist offer, criticizing the official TRA establishments have just appeared organisms (national, regional and local) in the last three years. as well as the TRA proprietors' associa- The next table (Table 6) identifies the tions, PRIVETUR and TURIHAB. The existing TRA houses and it locates them contacted tourism operators recognise regarding the centre of Paredes de Coura. they get large advantages from their As illustrated by the table 6, only five

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 203

from twenty-one parishes of Paredes de dation unit was just a 1st category pen- Coura offer this type of tourist accommo- sion), one should expect a stronger initia- dation. Just one TRA unit is placed at tive from TRA potential operators in or- less than 5 km from the centre of the mu- der to capture the forecasted opportunity. nicipality, and all of them are sharply What ever the reason was, it is interest- inserted in rural space. It is likewise im- ing to verify that more than 50% of the portant to mention that two of the estab- TRA establishments began to operate just lishments also benefit of the proximity of in the last two years. the protected natural area of Corno do Differently from the Caminha case, Bico. the issue of public financial helps to TRA The TRA supply of Paredes de Coura was decisive to the owners of these tourist is scarce, basically it offers the Turismo establishments. Indeed, the possibility of Rural type, having opened recently a reconstructing and adapting the houses to Casa de Campo (Quinta de S.Roque). the comforts of nowadays, with the guar- Despite the existence in the municipal- antee of preservation of the architectonic ity of noble houses from the 16th, the 17th heritage, was fundamental for the begin- and the 18th centuries (houses with rec- ning of the touristic activity in Paredes de ognised architectonic value and typically Coura. In this sense, having in mind the rural characteristics), which have be- declarations of the interviewed owners, longed to wealthy aristocratic farmers, or their motivation was more the preserva- others from the 19th century, belonging to tion of the houses than to become TRA the great bourgeoisie, this didn’t favour operators. the development of TRA activity until The characteristics of the TRA estab- very recently. In fact, being not available lishments we can find in Paredes de traditional tourism accommodation in Coura are shown in the table below. Paredes de Coura (the existing accommo-

Identification of the TRA types of fa- Parish Distance to Paredes Activity be- houses cilities de Coura ginning Casa do Paço TR Ferreira 5,5 km 1994 Casa Paz do Outeiro TR Ferreira 6 km 1994 Casa Cerejas TR Bico 5,2 km 2004 Quinta da Cruz TR Linhares 6 km 2003 Sonho da Seara TR Bico 5,5 km 2004 Quinta de Favães TR Moselos 3,5 km 2002 Quinta S. Roque CC Rubiães 7 km 2004 Table 6. Identification and location of the TRA establishments, in 2004 (Paredes de Coura). Source: Authors’ elaboration

Identification of the Total area of the Century of Generations in Before houses property construction the family TRA Casa do Paço 5,2 ha XVI Acquired Dwelling Casa Paz do Outeiro 1,5 ha XIX 3 Dwelling Casa Cerejas 2 ha XVIII 3 Farm Quinta da Cruz 3,5 há XVIII 4 Farm Sonho da Seara 1 ha XVIII Acquired Farm Quinta de Favães - XVII Since always Farm Quinta S. Roque - - - Farm Table 7. Brief characterization of the TRA establishments (Paredes de Coura). Source: Authors’ elaboration

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

204 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

Although, these tourist houses are as well as ornamental objects to decorate nowadays small properties, they use to be the interiors and to turn them more con- part of large agricultural explorations sentaneous with the external environ- that, with the time, were fractionated. ment. The contiguous lands were also Presently, in none of the cases agricul- recovered, resulting beautiful landscaped tural activities have place to complement spaces, endowed with entertainment the touristic activity. However, in the equipments. case of one unit, it existed until recently In what concern the TRA owner's pro- the handmade production of goat cheese, file, in the majority of the cases they are in which the tourists could participate. females (with one only exception, that The cheese was commercialized with suc- also corresponds to the older operator), cess; however the lady in charge had to with an average of age around the 52 suspend the activity for lack of means, years. They detain university degrees above all human resources. (also here, the exception corresponds to All the contacted TRA houses were re- the proprietor above mentioned). All of cuperated in its interior to offer the com- them have Portuguese nationality but forts demanded by the tourist vocation just three of them are natural of the mu- they have developed, making use of public nicipality of Paredes de Coura. financial support, with one exception With respect to the services available where just own capitals were used. Some in the establishments, Table 8 provides of the owners declared to have acquired the necessary information. and recuperated old and rustic furniture,

Casa do Casa Paz Casa Quinta Sonho Quinta Quinta S. Rooms and services Paço Outeiro Cerejas Cruz Seara Favães Roque Meals room X* X** X** X* X** X* X* Private living room X X X Common living room X X X X X Card/billiard room X X X X X Swimming pool X*** X X X X X X Children’s playground X Bicycles X X X Horses X Table 8. Rooms and services available to the tourists (Paredes de Coura)Source: Authors’ elaboration. * only breakfast // ** meals may be served upon prior request and agreement with the proprietor // *** in construction

Considering the above shown data, we swimming pool (excepting Casa do Paço may conclude that just three houses serve that foresees its supply soon), equipment main meals to its customers, even so, by considered by all the proprietors essential request. The remaining establishments for this type of establishment, located in just provide breakfast. The reason inland areas. pointed out to this is the short perma- In what concerns paid workers em- nence of the visitors in the houses, since ployment in these touristic units, in the the tourists use them, mostly, as support majority of the situations it is feminine, for the exploration of the surrounding with low instruction level - almost exclu- territory. sively the primary school. Their recruit- The Casa Paz do Outeiro unit provides ment takes place in the municipality. its guests the opportunity to ride, which Additionally, although the experience is a strong surplus value, as declared by of most of the houses is still short, from the landlady. All establishments have the results of the inquiry we got, we can

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 205

materialise a few remarks: the first one is tional sun and seaside tourism has to underline the existence of a seasonal marked the economic performance of Al- demand, in the summer; the second re- garve and Madeira regions and, in a gards the average length of stay, that smaller degree, the one of Lisbon. Taking goes from three to eight days; the third is advantage of the natural potential of to note that the majority of the national those territories, the tourism sector has clients is coming from the north of the confirmed itself as an important income country and Lisbon and Valley of Tejo. and employment generator. Despite this, We can also add that foreigners come it was an additional cause of the strongly mostly from Germany and Holland and asymmetric and coastal growth of the that national tourists are, predominantly, country. between 31 and 60 years old. In the for- To constitute an instrument of devel- eigner visitor’s case, they use to be from opment of the less favoured regions, the the age groups above the 46 years old. Portuguese tourism needs to decentralise As a final comment, we must refer and to diversify itself, taking advantage that, although this touristic product is of the potential of the territories and con- very recent and has a very restricted ter- figuring alternative tourism products. In ritorial expression in Paredes de Coura, a certain sense, it was that the idea that the TRA has been generating some bene- informed the touristic organisation of the fits to the municipality. This is the case in territory that started to be implemented what refers to lodging services, particu- by 1986. However, the ‘National Tourism larly. From this circumstance the tourist Plan’, established then, was soon dis- is lesser than before a passing visitor and, carded, getting lost the regional emphasis by consequence, other activities, like ef- base pursued. As a consequence, inertia fect restaurants and handicraft, are tak- took charge of retaking the unbalanced ing some advantage. path and limited the use of potential re- Being a recent phenomenon, the ex- sources of the regions, which was the pectations are great. The proprietors that starting point of the plan. we have contacted believe that this tour- Though, the beauty of the landscapes, istic activity has real potential as instru- the architectonic wealth of secular build- ment of Paredes de Coura development. ings, the exuberance of the gastronomy They believe that, for going far, it is only and of many cultural manifestations are a necessary the authorities put a larger feature of multiple Portuguese regions, as interest in the defence and promotion of it is the Minho case, in general, and the this touristic product. Namely, the TRA one of the municipalities of Caminha and operators claim a larger involvement of Paredes de Coura. The excessive promo- the local authorities, establishing a con- tional investment made in the sun and certed strategy regarding the natural and seaside tourism has limited the commer- built heritage preservation, the promotion cial management of those other resources. of the local gastronomy and the rehabili- As a result, less massified products are tation of the handicraft. This would allow still waiting for their chance. They are, of taking better profit of the local endoge- course, more demanding in what regards nous resources and contributing to sea- to service quality, but, certainly, can sonality reduction. carry progress in the sense of sustainable development and territorial balance. Policy implications and conclusions Such complains are made by the TRA operators and by those agents that defend The tourist use of the rural areas and, this touristic product is able of generating in particular, the specific touristic prod- wealth and employment at local and re- uct we selected to study, has generated gional level. To reach these kind of objec- great expectation in many Portuguese tives, on one hand, TRA must use quality regions. Likewise, it was followed with as a distinguishing factor and, on the enormous curiosity by academics and other hand, it needs to efficiently explore other agents worried with development the potential markets (that nobody issues. doubts that exist). Financial resources In the last three decades, the tradi- must be made available for marketing promotion, but the articulation of efforts

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

206 Sustainable use of endogenous touristic resources of rural areas ...

among the actors, either publics or pri- ties can be used, complementing and vate, is also needed. enlarging the offer of a diversified set of Meanwhile, one should remark that, goods and services by the surrounding sometimes, excessive hope was placed in territory. the creation of employment and income From another point of view, just as it that the TRA product is able to generate. was underlined by the contacted proprie- Regarding the issue, we think that, even tors, it is important to give concrete steps if the results are quite modest, they are as regards to promotions policies. TRA less hopeful, mostly, just because the must be part of an endogenous resources expectations were excessive. promotion strategy, in order to avoid that Traditionally, the rural space was an this touristic product gets an economic universe of activities, each one supplying impact below the expected one and re- a part of the resources that sustained the stricted to the tourism operators. installed communities. The deficit of The regional and local authorities, functional diversity of the rural areas was particularly the regional commissions of the result of the industrial revolution and tourism and the public authorities, have of the subsequent urbanization. There- an irreplaceable role to play in this area: fore, we cannot fight the evils that the the regional commissions of tourism will rural areas suffer, and that have been have to assume a more active and effec- driving to its economic failure and intense tive role in the creation of true tourism demographic exodus, just with the key ‘cluster’, instead of being just mere pro- ‘Tourism in Rural Areas’. Obviously, TRA motion agents; the local authorities, by can play an important role, as large as their side, have to be more sensitive to the promotion policies are consequent, the demands of total quality imposed by but certainly it won't be the only solution the sector. Concretely, they will have to for countryside. This ambition becomes assume a more severe attitude in what unfeasible given the limited and located concerns to the tourist organisation and expression of the resources used by TRA. to the municipality territory organisation, This is also the reason why it doesn't from a general point of view, and to value make sense to think it will be the answer the traditional architectonics’ standards. for all and any part of the national terri- On the other hand, both entities (insti- tory. Just as it happens with the sun and tutions and tourist operators) will have to seaside tourism, TRA will have (has) the pay more attention to the consumers' territorial concentrated expression that preferences. These preferences will be, at the singular resources of the regions last, what will dictate the success or the makes possible. This can be verified in failure of the strategy undertaken. the actual geographical expression of the TRA product in the national territory References and, also, in the examples given by the municipalities of Caminha and Paredes Barquero, António Vazquez de Coura. 1995 “A evolução recente da política regional. In what concerns to the Caminha and A experiência europeia”, Notas Económicas, Paredes de Coura examples, the survey Revista da Faculdade de Economia da Uni- we carried out allowed verifying that an versidade de Coimbra, n. 6, December 1995, important tourist potential exists. This pp. 24-39. potential comes from the variety and sin- Bote Gómez, V. gularity of its resources, and from the 2001 Turismo en espacio rural. Rehabilitación del patrimonio sociocultural y de la image of quality it benefits, despite the economía local, Ed. Popular, Madrid. obvious limitations in terms of the human Boullon, Roberto resources qualifications we found. 2000 Ecoturismo – Sistemas naturales y However, it will be important to know urbanos, Librerías y Distribuidora the level the implemented model is able Turísticas, Buenos Aires. to generate sustainable development, Cerro, Francisco Leno through a correct horizontal integration 1993 Tecnicas de evaluacion del potencial tu- in the local productive system. It is like- ristico, Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y wise relevant to identify if the capabilities Turismo, Madrid. and available resources of related activi-

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121

Laurentina Cruz Vareiro and J. Cadima Ribeiro 207

Cunha, Licínio NOTAS 1997 Economia e política do turismo, McGraw- Hill, Lisboa. 1 Turismo de Habitação (tourism in manor- DGT houses) – this is a family-style accommodation 2004 O Turismo no espaço rural – 2004, Di- service for tourists provided in old private houses recção-Geral de Turismo, Ministério da which, because of their architectural, historic or Economia, Lisboa. artistic value, are representative of a certain Polèse, Mario period, namely manor-houses or palaces (DGT, 2004). Turismo Rural (rural tourism) – this is a 1998 Economia Regional e Urbana – Lógica family-style accommodation service for tourists Espacial das Transformações Económicas, provided in private cottages which, because of Associação Portuguesa de Desenvolvimento their building materials and other characteristics, Regional, Coimbra. form an integral part of the typical regional archi- 1998a “From regional development to local tecture (DGT, 2004). Agro-Turismo (agricultural development: on the life, death and rebirth tourism) - this is a family-style accommodation of regional science as a policy relevant sci- service for tourists provided in private farm- ence”, Actas do V Encontro Nacional da houses, enabling guests to follow and discover APDR – Emprego e Desenvolvimento e Re- more about farming activity or to take part in the work that is done there, respecting the rules es- gional, Coimbra, vol. I, pp. 59-70. tablished by the manager of the business (DGT, Ribeiro, J. Cadima et al. 2004). Turismo de Aldeia (village tourism) – a 2001 “Turismo no espaço rural: uma digressão group of at least five houses located in a village, pelo tema a pretexto da situação e evolução historic village or rural centre, managed in an do fenómeno em Portugal”, Desenvolvimen- integrated way by one single managing body. The to e Ruralidades no Espaço Europeu – Actas design of these houses and the materials used in do VIII Encontro Nacional da APDR, their building must be such as to ensure that they APDR, Coimbra, pp. 329-341. are fully integrated into the village’s typical Vera, F. (coord) architecture (DGT, 2004). Casas de Campo (country houses) - this is an accommodation 1997 Análisis territorial del turismo, Ariel, service for tourists provided by private houses in Barcelona. rural areas, whether or not the owners or legal proprietors inhabit them. Their design, building Sítes in the internet: materials and other characteristics must be integrated into both the architecture and rustic envi- - www.adeturn.pt ronment of the area in which they are located - www.dgdr.min-agricultura.pt (DGT, 2004).

- www.dgturismo.pt 2 - www.ine.pt The smallest administrative level existing in Portugal. - www.rtam.pt

- www.turihab.pt 3 Hotel Rural (rural hotel) - hotel structure located in rural areas out of the administrative town of the municipality whose population, according to the last demographic census, shall be more than 20 000 inhabitants, whose propose is to offer accommodation and other related services, in- cluding meals; this services imply a monetary cost (DGT, 2004).

Recibido: 27 de junio de 2006 Reenviado: 9 de diciembre de 2006 Aceptado: 18 de marzo de 2007 Sometido a evaluación por pares anónimos

PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(2). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121