emigrants and espigueiros—tourism activities in a peripheral area of portugal

Emigrants and EspigueirosÐTourismActivities in a Peripheral Area of PortugalJonathan Edwards1* and Carlos Fernandes2

1School of Service Industries, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK2ESTG Polytechnic Viana do Castelo, Avenida do Atlantico 4901 Viana do Castelo, Portugal

ABSTRACT

This paper critically reviews tourismdevelopments in the Alto Minho province ofnorthern Portugal over the period 1986±1996.At the time of Portugal's accession to theEuropean Union this region was widelyregarded, certainly by sociologists, as themost rural area of western Europe. Bycontrast to many other western Europeanrural areas it has a relatively high populationdensity, although emigration and returnmigration has characterised the society formany centuries. Although the coastal fringeto the south of the AltoMinhowas developedin the nineteenth century, it was only in the1960s that the littoral area of the Alto Minhowitnessed any signi®cant tourisminvestment, principally in the form of smallto medium sized, medium quality hotels.Later the advent of aid and incentivepackages, available from the Tourism Fundof the Portuguese Government in the 1970s,stimulated developments in the ruralhinterland. These concentrated initially uponthe provision of accommodation, essentiallytargeting the international rather than thedomestic market. When Portugal joined theEuropean Union in 1986 the rural regions ofthe Alto Minho quali®ed for a range ofdevelopment initiatives, such as thecommunity based LEADER programmes.This new and welcome form of investmentallowed the tourism sector to address theneed for attractions and activities tocomplement earlier investment in the

accommodation sector. An analysis of theseevents provides the basis for a series ofobservations and recommendations relatingto the introduction of new tourism attractionsinto regions whose traditional strengths havebeen their strong socio-culturalcharacteristics and natural environment.Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: Development; entrepreneurs;migrants; Portugal; rural; tourism.

INTRODUCTION

Many countries, on many continents,have witnessed an almost inexorablemovement of their populations from

their more remote and poorly serviced ruralareas, traditionally dominated by agriculturaleconomies, to what are perceived as the moreeconomically attractive urban and coastalareas. This process of `deserti®cation' has ledto a wide range of policies and strategies whichattempt to, at best reverse, and at leastameliorate this trend. Such approaches clearlyrequire strategies either to revitalise traditionalindustries or to introduce new, alternativeeconomic activities. Service sector activitiessuch as tourism and hospitality are frequentlyadvocated as being `sympathetic' alternativesto the existing primary sector economies. TheAlto Minho region of northern Portugal wasuntil recently a very isolated rural areaexperiencing many of the dif®culties referredto above while being characterised by veryparticular patterns of out and return migra-tion. A number of initiatives have beenintroduced in the last 20 years which have

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCHInt. J. Tourism Res. 1, 329±340 (1999)

CCC 1099±2340/99/050329±12 $17.50 Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

* Correspondence to: Dr J. Edwards, School of ServiceIndustries, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus,Poole BH12 5BB, UK.

focused upon tourism led strategies of ruraldevelopment and diversi®cation, a number ofwhich have been applauded and put forwardby the European Commission as examples ofgood practice.

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

This research was conducted by adopting adetailed `case study' approach in observingand analysing the policies and strategies forthe development and diversi®cation of thetourism and rural economy of the Alto Minhoregion over the decade 1986±1996. The parti-cular case study location was the valley of theRiver Lima and the mountainous hinterland ofthe Peneda Geres National Park. A variety ofmethods, questionnaire, face to face interview,observation of meetings and participation instudy tours and seminars, were used. Statis-tical data was supplied by both the NationalStatistical Institute (INE) and the NorthernRegions Planning Coordination Committee(CCRN). The authors were given unrestrictedaccess to the various agencies and individuals,but the views expressed in this article are thoseof the authors and do not necessarily representthose of any other party.

PORTUGAL AND THE ALTO MINHOREGION

Portugal, a small country on the southwesternÀtlantic Arch' periphery of Europe, hasexperienced a process of rapid socio-economicchange following the return to democracy in1974 and assumption of full membership of theEuropean Union in 1986. These changes havein¯uenced not only the process of deserti®ca-tion but also the search for strategies to slowand if possible reverse the loss of populationsfrom rural areas. Although relatively small,Portugal is a highly diverse country, withpronounced differences between north andsouth, the coast and the interior. Thesedifferences are a re¯ection of among otherfactors, climate, topography, patterns of landownership, employment opportunities andculture. The `north' of Portugal representsnearly a quarter of the land area of the country(21637 km2, of 91895 km2) and is subdividedinto various provinces and administrative

districts. As a result there are a number ofmore or less de®ned `regions' in the north, forinstance: the interior `Tras as Montes'; the`Douro' and `Minho' associated with theseriver valleys, the Coste Verde or `Green'coastal region; and the Àlto Minho' incorpor-ating the Minho and Lima river valleystogether with an area of higher ground lyingeast of the Minho river. This paper is con-cerned principally with events occurring inthis Àlto Minho' region, which covers a totalarea of 2255 km2, and represents approxi-mately 10% of the land area of the north ofPortugal.

Characteristics of the Alto Minho

The Alto Minho region is the most northerly ofthe Portuguese regions and perceives itself asbeing peripheral to the capital Lisbon, which inits turn feels itself to be peripheral to the `core'of Europe. The region incorporates an Atlanticcoastline in the west, two fertile river valleysand the country's only National park, thePeneda Geres. In administrative terms the AltoMinho encompasses 10 Concelhos or Munici-palities (Caminha, Vila Nova de Cerveia,ValencËa, Parades de Coura, MoncËaÄo andMelgaco., Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima,Ponte de Barca and Arcos de Valdevez.Although fully accepting the arguments of

many authors regarding the de®nition of theterm rurality comparison over the 15 yearperiod 1981±1996 of a number of variables(Table 1; CCRN/CEDRU, 1994±98) that de®necertain aspects of rurality, demonstrates howrapidly the situation is changing as the com-munities reposition themselves upon therural±urban continuum. Some of these charac-teristics are discussed more fully below.

Population

The population of the north of Portugal in 1981was 3.41 million and this increased slightly to3.47 million in 1991, when it represented 37%of the total population. The Alto Minho had, in1981, a resident population of 256 780 inhabi-tants, which subsequently declined marginallyto 250 035 in 1991, when it represented 7.2% ofthe population of-northern region and 2.7% ofPortugal. The population density in the Alto

Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res. 1, 329±340 (1999

330 J. Edwards and C Fernandes

Table 1. Some indicative characteristics of the Alto Minho 1981±1997 (Statistics combined from varioussources as available)

Year ofreference Minho-Lima

NorthernRegion Portugal

Area (Km2) 2255 21367 91895Population 1960 277748 3040512 8291421

1981 256814 3410099 93367601991 250061 3472939 93714481996 249650 3544780 9433450

Population variation (%) 1960/91 ÿ10.0 4.2 13.01981/91 ÿ2.6 1.8 0.41991/96 ÿ0.2 2.1 0.7

Population density (person Kmÿ2) 1996 113 167 106Rate of dependent youth (%) 1981 45.8 47.2 39.9

1991 32.9 33.2 29.61996 27.7 27.7 25.1

Rate of dependent elders (%) 1981 23.7 16.0 18.11991 26.6 17.2 20.61996 18.2 18.2 22.1

Places with populations less than 99 inhabitants (%) 1981 45.7 20.4 13.91991 43.3 15.0 10.6

Places with more than 10 000 inhabitants (%) 1981 5.9 21.6 30.41991 6.4 25.4 34.1

Doctors per 1000 inhabitants 1991 1.2 2.4 2.91995 1.3 2.5 3.0

Illiterates (%) 1991 11.1 8.1 8.8Population in education medium/superior (%) 1991 3.7 5.2 6.5Population active: primary sector (%) 1981 47.3 20.4 19.3

1991 28.7 10.6 10.5Population active: secondary sector (%) 1981 28.2 47.0 38.9

1991 33.0 49.4 38.51997 31.3 40.0 31.8

Population active: tertiary sector (%) 1981 24.5 32.6 41.81991 38.3 40.0 51.1

Gross value added (%) in agriculture 1990 9.3 5.41994 6.3 3.2 4.1

Gross value added (%) in industry 1990 20.0 26.01994 38.2 44.3 33.6

Gross value added (%) in commerce/tourism 1990 17.3 20.01994 35.9 37.7 45.7

Gross value added (%) in services 1990 37.7 37.21994 19.6 14.7 16.6

Medium dimensions of agriculture exploits (ha) 1989 3.0 4.1 6.7Supply of water (percentage of population served) 1981 24.8 33.1 51.5

1990 55.6 65.2 76.91995 70.0 70.0 84.0

Drainage networks (percentage of population served) 1981 11.4 18.0 37.61990 24.9 36.0 55.01995 32.0 44.0 62.0

Collection of solid residuals (percentage of population served) 1981 60.0 65.9 75.21990 82.1 92.5 75.21995 90.3 95.0 95.0


Tourism in a Peripheral Area of Portugal 331

Minho in 1996 was approximately 113 peoplekmÿ2 (compared with that of the northernregion of 167 people kmÿ2), varying betweenthe extremes of 55.4 and 253.7 inhabitantskmÿ2 in MelgacËo and Viana do Castelorespectively (INE,1994±98).The population exodus (see below) that has

characterised the demographic evolution ofthe Alto Minho for many centuries, and whichwas particularly pronounced in the 1960s and1970s, continued between 1980 and 1990,although at a much slower rate. One of theprinciple consequences of the exodus is rapidpopulation ageing, con®rmed by the agestructure of the population. The high numbersof people under 15 years old and of those over64 years old, results in a relatively small activeworking population.All municipalities depopulated between

1960 and 1991, with the exception of Vianado Castelo on the coast and Ponte de Lima inthe interior. In the period 1981±1991, however,everywhere on the coast fromViana do Casteloto ValencËa saw a population increase, but inthe interior the population continued todecline. Nevertheless, if we consider as `urban'the population that lives within a 5 km radiusof an urban centre with more than 10 000inhabitants, the percentage of urbanised areasin the northern region is approximately 53%with the other 47% of the population living insmall rural settlements with less than 100inhabitants.

MIGRATIONÐEMIGRATION ANDRETURN MIGRATION

The north of Portugal has a long history ofmigration, which differs from that of manyother areas in the relatively high rates of returnof the migrants. These migratory movementsbegan in the sixteenth century with thecolonisation of Madeira and the Azores,followed in the eighteenth century by thedeparture of many from the north of Portugalto Brasil. The most recent major migratorymovement began through the organised re-cruitment of labour for French industry in the1950s but which subsequently grew rapidly inthe 1960s and 1970s when many tens ofthousands left principally for western Europebut also to North and South America (Bruneau

et al., 1984). The prime reason for this emigra-tion, certainly until the 1960s, was to improvethe quality of life, particularly for the sons ofthe large tenant farming familiesÐthe north ofPortugal is an overwhelmingly, and untilrecently, devotedly Catholic area. For example,during the period of emigration to Brazil,wages in Brazil were 9 to 10 times those inPortugal. An additional motivation in the1960s and early 1970s, in the last years of theSalazar dictatorship, was for young men toavoid conscription to an army increasinglydisillusioned with its involvement in thecolonial wars in Africa.The precise numbers involved in these

migratory movements are dif®cult to deter-mine due prior to the twentieth century owingto the lack of accurate historical records and inthe twentieth century because of very signi®-cant levels of illegal or clandestine migration.Various estimates suggest that emigration forthe period 1500±1700 was in the order of 1.3million. A further 1.2 million left between 1890and 1940, 90% of these from the northerninterior and northern and central coastal areas,in part driven out at this time by the devasta-tion of viticulture by the Phylloxera epidemic.In recent decades the severity of the economicconditions combined with a desire to avoidmilitary service resulted in an annual loss of2% of the population for much of the 1960s and1970s (Table 2).As a result many rural economies became

dependent upon emigrants' remittances,which were without doubt a major contributorto the relatively sustained period of economicgrowth that was recorded in Portugal in the1960s and 1970s. The ®gures leaving droppedsharply following the revolution in 1974, roseagain following political events in 1978±1979,but then fell to around 8000±10,000 each yearin the mid-1980s, and have remained aroundthat ®gure since Portugal joined the EuropeanUnion in 1986. The major exodus of skilledlabour, that some feared would follow on frommembership and the establishment of the rightof freedom of movement of labour within thecommunity, has not occurred.As indicated above, return migration is one

of the distinguishing characteristics of themigration patterns of the north of Portugal,various estimates suggest that between 1960



and the late 1980s, 880 000 emigrants returned.It is also necessary to distinguish betweenthese returning migrants and the 500 000±700 000 `retornados' who ¯ooded back toPortugal when Angola and Mozambiquegained their independence in 1974±1976. Sig-ni®cant numbers of these `retornados' hadrelatively high levels of education comparedwith the average agricultural labourer-migrant. Consequently their skills and expec-tations were very different and in practicemany `retornados' emigrated again, as domany of the `emigrants', with two or threeepisodes of emigration to different countriesbeing relatively common.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Employment

A sectoral analysis in the Minho±Lima regiondemonstrates that the area has a very high

workforce in the agricultural sector comparedwith the entire northern region, although therehas been a major decline in the decade 1981±1991, with a concurrent increase in employ-ment in the tertiary sector (Table I). Converselythe increase in the secondary manufacturingsector, principally around Viana do Castelo,has been relatively modest. However, of equal,if not greater concern is the almost negligibleincrease in total job opportunities during aperiod in which there were major increases injob opportunities in many other parts ofPortugal.

Agriculture and ®shing

The Alto Minho is a mountainous region, withrestricted cultivatable land (21.9% in the LimaValley and 20.1% in the Minho Valley) theagricultural land along the river margins beingof particular importance. Employment pat-terns in agriculture may be partly explained

Table 2. Legal and illegal immigration 1966±1995 (Instituto de Apoio e emigracao e as Communidades (1998)and Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (1998))

Legal emigration Illegal emigration

Years Number Per cent Numbers Per cent Total

1966 120239 90.5 12595 9.5 132841967 92502 87.0 13778 13.0 1062801968 80452 77.2 23697 22.8 1041491969 70165 45.7 83371 54.3 1535361970 66360 38.3 106907 61.7 1732671971 50400 33.3 106797 66.7 1511971972 54084 51.5 50892 48.5 1049761973 79517 66.3 40502 33.7 1200191974 43397 61.8 26876 38.2 702731975 24811 55.2 20107 44.8 449181976 17493 52.6 15753 47.4 332461977 17226 59.4 11763 40.6 289891978 18659 75.7 5802 24.3 246411979 290574 84.3 3818 15.7 243921980 18071 56.9 13710 43.1 317811981 16513 52.9 14721 47.1 312341982 10276 65.9 5324 34.1 156001983 7096 56.3 5521 43.7 126171984 6556 62.3 3972 37.7 105281985 7149 74.9 2396 25.1 95451986 6271 71.5 2500 28.5 8777

Little change in this decade1995 8109 88.2 1080 11.8 9189



by an ageing working population, low levels ofprofessional training, and excessive division ofland ownership. The number of agriculturalholdings in the Lima Valley alone being 16 977(84.4% of all holdings have an area of less than4 ha and 60.7% have less than 1 ha). Themajority of agricultural workers are tenantfarmers and around 60% of the producerswork more than half of their time on newholdings. The principal activities are vineculture, the production of meat and milk andforestry. Fishing is concentrated around threeports: Viana do Castelo, Vila Praia de AÄ ncoraand Caminha, with Viana being the major port.This sector is relatively pro®table owing to the`high value' species caught, and additionallythere has been a signi®cant degree of invest-ment and modernisation in recent years.

Manufacturing Industry

This sector is made up predominantly of smalldispersed units concerned with food andbeverage processing, timber and furniture,paper, non-metal mineral extraction, textiles,clothing, footwear and metal products. Therehas been, until recently, a clear lack ofinnovation in all industries, particularly thoseassociated with the `typical' products of thearea, i.e. food, wine, stone and ceramics.

Tourism

The `Alto Minho' has particular natural,cultural and human resources that determineits tourism potential. These resources may bestbe summarised as those of a `rural±coastal' loca-tion with ®ne landscapes incorporating part ofPortugal's only National Park, a rich patrimonywith its associated buildings, customs andcrafts, and a distinctive regional gastronomy.The tourism industry began to develop in

the 1960s along the coast both in Viana doCastelo, the principal town and port of theregion, and also in a series of smaller ®shingvillages from Valenca on the River Minhonear the Spanish border to Esposende on theoutskirts of Povoa de Varzim (Figure 1). Theseearly developments were predominantly twoand three star hotels targeting the perceivedpotential of northern European markets(Sampaio, 1991). However, the coast, although

incorporating many spectacular sandybeaches, is very exposed and strong onshorenorthern winds are common throughoutmuch of the year, signi®cantly detracting fromthe success of a sun±sea±sand product. Con-sequently during the 1970s and 1980s increas-ing attention was given to the potential of therural interior, particularly the valley of theRiver Lima and to the Peneda Geres NationalPark.The patrimony (heritage) of the area has

long been regarded by the Portuguese as oneof its key strengths, in particular:

(1) the built heritage, exempli®ed by the manyreligious buildings (churches, convents)and the numerous Manor Houses builtwith the proceeds from the colonisation ofBrazil, together with the granite built maizestores, or Espigueiros, introduced alongwith the cultivation of maize from Brazil;

(2) the landscape characterised by `minifun-dia', a pattern of landholding in whichownership comprises a series of small plots(< 0.5 ha) scattered around the settlementand the practice of growing vines on hightrellises supported by granite posts;

(3) the many markets, fairs, ®estas and romar-ias, which are held all over the regionthroughout the year but particularly in thesummer months and invariably accompa-nied by ®reworks, a very characteristicfeature of Alto Minho culture;

(4) the region's gastronomy, incorporatingboth speciality meat (e.g. rojoes), and ®sh(e.g. lampreia) dishes and the typicalyoung (green/verde) wines.

This recognition of the regional heritageprovided a focus for those who sought todevelop tourism in the rural hinterland. A keyinitiative combined the two objectives ofproviding much needed accommodation of astandard appropriate for international visitorswith the preservation of the patrimony. Own-ers of private houses, deemed to be ofarchitectural merit, were offered low interestloans (4% over 10 years) by the PortugueseGovernment to renovate and modernise theirproperties on the condition that they makeaccommodation available to visitors. This`with the family' style of accommodation wastermed `Turismo Habitacao' and was pro-



moted initially to the northern Europeanmarket, particularly Germany, Scandanaviaand the UK. Strenuous efforts have been madethrough promotion to characterise `TurismoHabitacao' as a high value product with roomprices equivalent to or above those of four starhotels. In particular any parallels with theUK's `bed and breakfast' were vigorouslyrefuted, as it was argued that guests wereenjoying the privilege of staying in ®ne housewith members of a family who in many caseshad lived in the house for many generations. Asimilar argument is advanced by the providersof `home and family' based accommodation inNew England, USA.In addition to the Regional Tourist Board of

the Alto Minho (RTAM), which functions topromote and ensure the quality of the entireregional tourism product, several ManorHouse associations were initially formed toprovide cooperative marketing and reserva-tion services for their members. One of theseassociations `Turihab' thrived and subse-quently became the instigator of a successfulapplication to the European Union's LEADER1 programme. (The LEADER initiative, topromote rural development, arose from thedecision of the EU in 1988 to reform the threemajor structural fundsÐRegional Develop-ment, Agriculture and SocialÐand to recog-nise that new approaches to the revitalisationof rural areas were vital if the growing trend ofdeserti®cation by the population was to behalted and if possible reversed.) The success ofthis application, managed by a local manage-ment committee, ADRIL, effectively securedthe ®rst signi®cant European funds for theregions tourism industry. Up until 1990 thoseEuropean funds that had been available to thecountry's tourism industry had been targetedat other tourism priority areas.The key objectives of the ADRIL application

were:

(1) to develop a series of activities around a`touristic pole', in practice the town ofPonte de Lima, which would increase thevariety of the touristic offer there byattracting a new additional market to theareaÐthe principal activities chosen were agolf course and an equestrian centre com-plete with an oval racing track;

(2) to support craft centres for linen andstoneware and a small factory producingtraditional smoked meat products;

(3) to assist in the renovation of small tradi-tional properties to self-catering cottages inone of the villages of the Peneda GeresNational ParkÐthis initiative was seen asthe pioneer of `Turismo de Aldeia', orvillage tourism, to distinguish it fromTurismo Habitacao;

(4) to facilitate the introduction of compu-terised reservation systems and the con-tinuing promotion of the TurismoHabitacao product and the region as awhole.

The Golf Course opened in 1996, as did theEquine Centre, the craft centres, the smokedmeat factory and the small houses in thevillage of Soajo became available completewith their own village-based reservation ser-vice. The completion of the stated objectivesundoubtedly contributed to the successfulapplication of the ADRIL local action groupto a LEADER 2 programme, which hasrecently been initiated.

TOURISM ENTREPRENEURS

Any development programme requires orga-nisations or individuals to provide initiativeand to manage the process, these may origi-nate within the community or be introduced.In the case of the Alto Minho these initiativeshave arisen, in the main, from the localcommunity. These include of®cial agenciessuch as the Camaras, the elected local govern-ment, representing each Concelho or Munici-pality, the supra-regional CoordinatingPlanning Committee for the North(CCRN),the Tourist Board and a range of professionalorganisations representing different interestgroups such as the small farmers, the wineproducers and the providers of accommoda-tion.

(1) The Camaras, which enjoy a great deal ofautonomy, are effectively the competentplanning authority and as such can clearlyaffect the development process.

(2) The CCRN, one of ®ve such committeescovering mainland Portugal, possesses agreat deal of technical competence but has



essentially an advisory role coordinatingdevelopment proposals and advising bothnational government and the munici-palities.

(3) The Regional Tourism Board represents asemivoluntary af®liation of municipalitiesin the region that choose to support andjoin the Board. The principal functions ofthe Board are promotion to internationaland domestic markets, the provision ofinformation through a network of TouristInformation Of®ces, quality inspection ofaccommodation and restaurants and provi-sion of activities. As regards developmenttheir role is to advise, encourage andsupport.

(4) It has been at the level of the local`associations' that initiatives for rural andtourism development in the Alto Minhohave arisen. In particular the `Turihab'organisation has been instrumental inestablishing the Turismo Habitacao pro-duct and in securing LEADER programmefunding. This association has a member-ship of established educated families, manyof whom have signi®cant industrial experi-ence or who have held senior positions incommerce and government. As such theywere well placed to take advantage of theearly initiatives regarding property renova-tion. Nevertheless the association is highlypoliticised and it has required adept leader-ship to coordinate and maintain the orga-nisation.

Immigrants as entrepreneurs

In addition to the very real economic bene®tsof their remittances, returning migrants alsobring with them newly acquired skills. Theindications are that the contribution of skillsand initiatives depend both upon the back-ground of the emigrants, his/her age and thehost country(s). Many of the poorly educatedmigrants returning for reasons other than poorhealth effectively semi-retire, with an investedincome allowing them either to resume formeractivities, usually agriculture, or start a smallbusiness, often a cafeÂ or small shop. Theopening of such small businesses appears inpart to be motivated by a desire to make astatement that the former, possibly landless,labourer has returned as a successful member

of the entrepreneurial class. Nevertheless, thisavailability of potential investment partlyaccounts for the boom in new commercialproperty units being built in a number of thesmaller towns. For example in Ponte de Barca,60% of such properties are acquired by`emigrants'. In some instances the ownersrun their own businesses, whereas others leasethe property. It remains questionable if manyof these businesses are, of themselves, intrinsi-cally viable, there are for example 90 cafes inArcos de Valdevez (population 27 000), andPonte de Barca boasts 27 butchers, (population13 000).Rocha sa Lima (1991) in a limited study

during 1990±1991 found that of the proprietorsof small businesses, principally cafes and smallstores, whom she interviewed very few gavethe opportunities of the existing or developingtourism industry as a reason for their decisionto begin trading. Nevertheless, over the last 8±10 years it is apparent that a number of cafeÂand particularly restaurants have been estab-lished by returning emigrants, which aresuccessful and which stand out in regard toboth facilities and decor, for example, airconditioning. In the mountain village of Soajo,already referred to in regard to the develop-ment of village tourism, all three restaurantsare owned and operated by emigrants, all offera good standard and all are successful.Although conclusive data is dif®cult to obtainthere are indications that a signi®cant numberof these apparently more successful enter-prises are owned and managed by emigrantswho have spent at least part of their timeabroad in north America. This introduction ofcompetition into the restaurant and othersectors has the potential to lead to a generalincrease in standards and an improved tour-ism product.Although not the prime focus of this paper,

one reason why those emigrants with youngfamilies return to the relative isolation of theAlto Minho is the belief that `life' for a youngfamily is intrinsically better here than inCalifornia or other destination! By contrastthe `retornados' who returned from the Afri-can colonies and remained in Portugal are notso evident in the small business sector. Rathertheir skills, often administrative, appear tohave gained them access to either the medium



sized and larger companies or in public sectoradministration

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF TOURISMIN THE ALTO MINHO

The market

The domestic market represents about 60% ofthe visitors, with Spanish, particularly fromGalicia, the largest international market fol-lowed by visitors from Britain, Germany,Scandanavia and the LowCountries. Althoughthe Spanish market is characterised by dayvisits it accounts for the greatest number ofinternational bed nights, followed by the UKand Germany. A further differentiation ofthe international market is that Spanishvisitors represent an `all year' market, whereasother international visitors are con®ned almostexclusively to the high season (RTAM,1996).The national market is also very concentratedin the high season, although there is a growingweekend market, particularly at Christmas,Carnival and Easter.Included within this national market are

the many tens of thousands of emigrantswho return traditionally for the month ofAugust to their home village to have a goodtime, perhaps to continue with the buildingof a house, possibly to marry and generallyto celebrate their success. As a result of thisin¯ux of enthusiasm and money the manyFiestas and Romarias, almost all of whichhave a religious aspect, become major events,often lasting two or three days with themajor events, such as that in August in Vianado Castelo, attracting many thousands ofvisitors.

The product

As a result of these activities we can distin-guish three segments or components of theAlto Minho tourism product: new ruralÐTurismo Habitacao, existing rural and coastal.

New ruralÐTurismo Habitacao. The new ruraltourism product that has been instigated in theAlto Minho in the last 15 years is that ofTourism Habitacao. This initiative has soughtand obtained considerable attention. There are

now just over 100 houses offering this style ofaccommodation and perhaps inevitably withsuch a small base there is currently one majorManor House Association `Turihab' with oneor two minor associations. Occupancy levelsare very variable dependent in large measureupon the commitment and personality of theindividual owners. The international market ischaracterised by a high turnover of touroperators in the generating countries. Thelevel of repeat business by internationalvisitors is relatively modest but with a ®nitebed capacity this is not perceived as a concern.The somewhat erratic demand from the inter-national market has been inceasingly offset inthe last 5 years by the growth in demand fromthe increasingly af¯uent domestic market.Given that this accommodation product isfounded upon an awareness of patrimony/heritage it seems entirely reasonable that thosemost likely to appreciate and value thisexperience will be the domestic visitor, to-gether with those of a similar cultural back-ground, in this instance the Spanish market inGalicia.Owing to the successful promotion of these

essentially locally inspired and driven initia-tives the rural tourism product of the AltoMinho has become identi®ed with `TurismoHabitacao'. However, it has to be recognisedthat there are no more than 1000 beds in thistype of accommodation, representing one-third of the serviced sector in the area.Additionally the speci®c nature of the richregional patrimony, particularly the ManorHouses appears to support the argument ofCavaco (1995), who points out that with theexception of the Lima valley this type of ruralaccommodation is not very signi®cant, judgedin regard to bedspace provision in national oreven regional terms. However, there is littledoubt that in promotional terms, both inrelation to the Alto Minho region and indeedfor all of Portugal, this unique accommodationtype is of considerable signi®cance.The `new' attractions, the golf course and the

equestrain centre, were partly ®nanced insupport of the argument that the introductionof these attractions into an otherwise essen-tially rural area would diversify the productand attract a new segment of the internationalmarket, who would, it was argued, select



Tourism Habitacao style accommodation andthereby indirectly generate a demand for moreaccommodation in the rural area. The evidenceto date is that the golf course has been verysuccessful in attracting players and clubmembers from the area of `greater Porto',who can commute with increasing ease fromPorto and the surrounding industrial centres.The numbers of tourists playing golf is cur-rently very modest. What may be necessary isthe completion of other courses in the north ofPortugal to enable specialist tour operators tooffer the opportunity for overseas players toplay three or four courses during a 1 week visit.It is equally necessary to recognise that the AltoMinho is not the Algarve, in particular it doesnot have the Algarve's weather, which accountsfor its attraction as a golf destination fromOctober to April. The winter weather in theAlto Minho is far closer to that of the principalgolf generating countries of northern Europe.The equine centre functions as a stabling

facility for owners, and occasional race meet-ings are held. Although Portuguese gaminglaws have to date inhibited the development ofsigni®cant on or off course betting the racemeetings are popular within the region, but theappeal and relevance to the region's tourism,as opposed to day leisure, is dif®cult todemonstrate other than it diversi®es theactivities available. However, there has beena rapid increase in the number of race horseowners in the north of Portugal, which has ledto the creation of employment for grooms andtrainersÐthe proprietor of the centre estimatesthis may be in the order of 300±400 jobs.The creation of self-catering village tourism

units, initially in the mountain village of Soajo,has proved successful, particularly for thedomestic market and for emigrants returningto their village.

The existing rural tourism product. Althoughmuch attention has been focused upon the newinitiatives described above, there remains along-established product based either uponrelatively low-cost serviced accommodation inResidencials or Pensoes or on campinggrounds. What is clear is that there is a highand largely unsolicited demand for campingplaces, despite the fact that there are twice asmany campsite places as all other types of

accommodation (7000 versus 3000). This sig-ni®cant demand for camping comes from bothdomestic and international markets and is notparticularly well served owing to differencesin ownership and a lack of coordination.Studies (Edwards, 1988, 1991; Edwards et al.,

1996, 1998) suggest that the principal attractionof the inland rural area is for its scenery, thepeace and quiet and lack of commercialisation,and the principal activities are relaxing, walk-ing, touring the area and swimming and thatthese have not changed signi®cantly over thelast decade. Equally, the consistent demandover the same period has been for good qualityinformation and for improvements in the`environment', a comment which upon furtherenquiry refers to improved signing and parti-cularly to the removal of the signi®cantquantities of litter often seen on the outskirtsof towns and villages.

Coastal tourism. On the coast the tourismproduct has seen little change, there have beenfew additional hotel bed spaces created andgenerally very little investment in this sector.The number of international tour operatorsprepared to take allotments has proved veryvolatile with an overall downward trend overthe last decade. Local analyses frequentlyfocus upon comparisons with Lisbon and theAlgarve and the dilemma of matching thesame price/volume equation. There has, how-ever, been some investment in Viana doCastelo, with the development of a smallmarina in the river mouth, but this to datehas attracted few non-Portuguese boats.Nevertheless, owing to the major access tothe area being, until recently, almost entirelyalong the coastline, the coastal fringe, with itsdrawbacks, continues to attract the majority ofthe visitors.

THE FUTURE OF TOURISM IN THE ALTOMINHO

The developments in the rural areas of the AltoMinho described above have represented themajor investments in the region's tourism inrecent years. Previously, Portuguese Govern-ment policy had not recognised the AltoMinho as a priority area for tourism, preferringto concentrate on the then more appealing



central and southern areas of themainland andthe Atlantic island of Madeira.Various analyses of the tourism potential of

the Alto Minho have identi®ed the lack of`activities' and the very poor access by roadand rail, from the airport of Oporto or fromthose in Vigo or Santiago do Compostela innorthern. Spain. Access to the area by road hasimproved signi®cantly in the 1990s and by theyear 2000 the completion of a major roadprogramme will put the Alto Minho within2±3 hour drive time of a population of 10million Portuguese and Spanish people.The question remains as to why these

potential tourists should visit the Alto Minhoor why those who are within 2±3 hour ¯yingtime, the traditional non-Iberian internationalvisitor group, should visit this rural areas asopposed to the many other rural locations ofEurope.When questioned (Edwards et al., 1996,

1998) the majority of visitors cite activitiestraditionally regarded as being appropriate torural areas as their principal reasons andalthough there is a demand for horse ridingand possibly hunting and ®shing, very fewcurrently are demanding the `new' activity ofgolf. The heritage/patrimony of the area hasrightly been recognised as a major strengthand the further development of a rural±cultural product may be well suited to ashort-stay non-Iberian market, which is likelyto continue to be characterised by a low level ofrepeat visits. Conversely the awareness of thepatrimony of the domestic and neighbouringGalician market, together with the continuingimpact of the regular return of migrants andtheir families will continue to be a vitalcomponent of the region's tourism.

CONCLUSIONS

This review of tourism-led programmes ofrural area development suggests that theoutcome of the introduction of `new' `tourism'facilities into traditional rural areas may, incircumstances where the general standard ofliving of the population is rising, simply offeran alternative route of providing leisure facil-ities for the local population rather than tosubstantively increase the numbers of eitherdomestic or international tourists. What is also

apparent is that the strengths of rural areasremains as many authors have established, i.e.peace, tranquility, attractive landscapes, gas-tronomy and the provision of opportunities forlow-impact activities, such as walking, swim-ming and sightseeing. Policy makers in othersimilar peripheral locations have therefore toassess if they wish to invest in the `new' non-traditional in an attempt to lead the demand orto recognise and develop the widely attributedinherent strengths of rural areas. Policy ma-kers should also recognise that special interesttourists, be they golfers or bird watchers, areusually single minded and demanding regard-ing the opportunity and qualities of theproduct offered. Equally there are in realityrelatively few of these specialists in compar-ison to the large numbers of generalists whoare attracted to the more remote peripheralrural regions for their traditional rather thannovel characteristics. Nevertheless, such loca-tions will always `enjoy' a high turnover of`generalist' international guests who rotatearound the rural regions of many countries,whereas the core of the repeat business will bethe domestic market, which understands andappreciates the product, together with visitorsfrom adjacent countries with similar culturalcharacteristics.

REFERENCES

Bruneau, T. C. et al. (1984), Portugal in development:Emigration Industrialisation, the European Commu-nity. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.

Cavaco, C. (1995), Tourism in Portugal: diversity,diffusion, and regional and local development.Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geogra®e, 86,1, 64±71.

CCRN (1984) Tourism in the North Region of Portugal(Turismo na Regiao Norte) Porto: Northern RegionsPlanning Coordination Committee.

CCRN/CEDRU (1994±98) A study of the macroeconomic organisation of the Alto Mipho (ProvinceEstudo sobre a Organizacao MacroÐEconomica eTerritorial do Alto Minho) Porto: Northern RegionsPlanning Coordination Committee.

Edwards, J. R. (1988), A comparison of the developmentand marketing of small businesses in rural areas ofEngland and Portugal. University of BirminghamMSc Dissertation Centre for Urban and RegionalStudies.

Edwards, J. R. (1991), Guest ÐHost perceptions of



Rural Tourism in England and Portugal, in(editors), Sinclair, M. T. and Stabler, M. J. TheTourism Industry: An International Analysis.Oxford: CAB International.

Edwards, J. R. Fernandes, C., and Vaughan, D. R.(1996), Researching visitor perceptions of the AltoMinho. Tourism Workshop, University of the Algarve,May 1996.

Edwards, J. R., Fernandes, C. and Vaughan, D. R.(1998), Tourism brand attributes of the AltoMinho, in Hall, D. and Richards, Cr. (Editors),Tourism and Sustainable Community Development.London: Routledge.

Instituto Nacional Estatistica (1994±98), Demo-graphic Statistics (Revisito do Centro de EstudosDemogra®cos). Lisbon: INE.

Rocha sa Lima (1991). Emigration and Tourism in thenorth of Portugal, Emigracao e Turismo no Norte dePortugal Bournemouth: Unpublished ResearchDiploma, Department of Tourism, University ofBournemouth.

RTAM (1996), Regional Tourism Board Alto MinhoAnnual Report. Viana do Castelo: RTAM.

Sampaio F. (1991). The touristic product of the north ofPortugal (O Produto Turistico do Alto Minho), Vianodo Castelo: Camara do Viana do Castelo.



emigrants and espigueiros—tourism activities in a peripheral area of portugal

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