Portugal: so much heritage and so little accessible
At the APAVT Congress, which ended yesterday in Ponta Delgada, the last panel was dedicated to “Product diversification, new markets and more territory”focusing on cultural heritage.
Catarina Valença Gonçalves, founder and CEO of SPIRA, disclosed numbers that the audience of travel agents and tour operators were unaware of and which would surprise; in some cases, they hatched. But they also generated interest in working so that these monuments add value to their travel proposals. With gains for all, since cultural tourism is increasingly important, especially in Europe.
Just over 10% of the 38,000 monuments are classified
O Cultural Heritage Study in Portugal: Assessment of Economic and Social Valuecoordinated by Catarina Valença Gonçalves and released in 2020, shows that Portugal has more than 38,000 real estate assets, some recovered, others in good condition and most of them in ruins.
Of this total, only 4,575 are classified as heritage (at municipal level, of public interest or national monument). There are about a thousand national monuments and 17 classified as world heritage.
According to the specialist and president of SPIRA (a private company dedicated to revitalizing heritage and bringing it closer to people, based in Alvito, Alentejo) this heritage is well distributed throughout the country — 66% is in the Interior.
But what most shocked the audience was the information that only 250 of the 4,575 monuments have controlled entry. In 2019, I received around 20 million visitors and generated 60 million euros in revenue.
There’s a lot of poisoned potential
The results would be quite different if, at least, the classified monuments were all accessible to citizens, concludes the study. It was based on data collected in the country’s 308 municipalities that the belief was made.
In operation, it could receive around 56 million visitors; contribute to the creation of one more full-time job/25 thousand visitors/year; increase employment in hotels and restaurants by 3% and the number of overnight stays/municipality by 3.4%. Revenues could amount to 225 million euros a year, just at the box office.
Lack of a National Strategy for Cultural Heritage
Bluntly, Catarina Valença Gonçalves criticized the lack of a National Strategy for Cultural Heritage and regretted that it is a private company, like SPIRA, which has been taking care of this for ten years.
A strategy that, in his opinion, should be based on proximity management based on partnerships, including public-private ones, with certification of cultural and landscape tourism products and a commitment to adapting level IV training in the area of heritage.
“In tourism, there is only training in catering and hospitality, zero training in cultural heritage. As citizens, we are financing the depopulation of the country. What kind of kid is caught with a computer training course and ends up working in the 66% of the territory that also has cultural heritage?”, asks the businesswoman and researcher.
Why don’t we enjoy cultural heritage?
For Catarina Valença Gonçalves, there is no doubt that it is necessary to change mentality. “We always think that heritage is dry, closed. It’s a lie. It’s fascinating, if the information to share. Why don’t we enjoy the cultural heritage?”, She asks.
Making heritage more accessible can include loyalty cards, heritage lotteries or mass initiatives such as television contests or raffles in which the topic is treated lightly, argues the founder of SPIRA.
The study on cultural heritage in Portugal proposes around two dozen measures to make it more attractive and closer to populations and tourists.
To begin with, heritage must be seen as a collective good, strategic in the economic and social development of the country. With the right to fruition and civic participation in the management of the heritage property.
And the completion of works on some monuments, in the expert’s opinion, would not have to force a total or partial closure. It also advocates carrying out activities that accompany these works, which lead people to understand the history of that building or of any of its parts, according to necessary repairs. Even the building in ruins has history and can be told. In short, get closer to more heritage municipalities. A practice already in use in European countries.
On the other hand, Catarina Gonçalves consider that it is necessary to open the doors of many monuments that are almost always closed (for example, churches) so that people can visit them or even participate in different initiatives, such as concerts, lectures, conferences, shows.
There are heritage managers who appreciate stones more than people
And how can these closed doors be opened so that tourists can enjoy them? What can travel agencies do to show this heritage, contribute to the development of the area and, on the other hand, support their tourist proposals? They were questions that lived from the audience of the Congress.
For Catarina Valença Gonçalves, there is a basic rule: you have to be available to get to know the territory, talk to people and look for close partnerships. A job done face to face because these people are not available to just talk by mail.
I also regret that there are people who manage cultural heritage for whom it is indifferent whether there are visitors or not. “A lot of these people don’t like people; likes rocks because they don’t ask questions. And tourism likes people, who comment and question”.
Culture is the great opportunity of tourism
Álvaro Covões, founder and general director of Everything is New, who also participated in the panel, really left the challenge to tour operators: either they settle for the product they have; or they want to grow and for that they have to work and create or enhance their products. “It is mainly for those who want to do business”.
And, in the businessman’s opinion, culture is the great opportunity: “According to the European Union, cultural tourism represents 40% of tourism in Europe. And we, who have so much heritage, continue to devalue it or at least not make the best use of it”.
Valuation that also goes through good publicity and publicity campaigns. Giving as an example the recently opened Museum of the Royal Treasury, Álvaro Covões considers that it has not been publicized enough. “Royal jewels are absolutely extraordinary content. (The Museum) was supposed to be sold out in the next 6-7 months”.
And he emphasizes that heritage and culture are essential to create a tourism product.