Abstract
Tourism is widely recognised as one of the key sectors for the development of countries and an important source of income, employment and wealth creation, with an impact on the social, economic and environmental levels in territories. This chapter aims to understand to what extent tourism can act as an inducer of the development process in low-density territories (LDTs).
The demographic urgency that Portugal is experiencing, the bipolarised territories between the interior and the coast and the growing importance of the tourism sector are the main drivers for this research. From a total of 165 municipalities considered as LDTs, 112 valid responses were obtained, which corresponds to a response rate of 67.9%.
The questionnaire to municipalities LDTs, showed the different configurations and visions on how tourism can help to mitigate existing problems and enhance the emergence of solutions. It was possible to perceive the current importance of tourism in the context of LDTs—strengthening of the local economic base of the LDTs, external image of the municipalities, preservation of heritage, involvement of the population—and the future importance that will be progressive and even more evident.
The main contributions of this research are a greater understanding of the situation and uniqueness of LDTs, a better understanding of the territorial dynamics that involve the relationship between territorial development and tourism, and the fundamental role of municipalities in support of tourist activity.
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da Costa, R.A., Silva, J.C., Morais, D. (2023). Tourism and Development in Lagging Regions. In: Teles, F., Rodrigues, C., Ramos, F., Botelho, A. (eds) Territorial Innovation in Less Developed Regions. Palgrave Studies in Sub-National Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20577-4_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20577-4_13
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