Tourism, Territory (ies) and Local Development Practices of Participation and Governance of the Destination Alto Minho (Portugal)

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine how the governance of destinations, with a special focus on a rural–urban coastal territory, can contribute to the development of tourism. The marks of territorial governance and its development strategies and decisions were sought, which led us to verify an intimate relationship with the principles of territorial cohesion arising from the objectives of the political planning process. It is concluded, that there is a crossing of the territorial approach with a multilevel governance, that is considered an optimal form of the organizational “process” and “coordination mode” of actors who should be able to increase the endogenous “territorial capital”. The example of the type of multilevel governance for the Portuguese case must be substantiated in municipalism. We can even point to a paradigm shift in public governance models that goes beyond the intergovernmental relationship. Thus, at the theoretical level, the various forms and contexts of public sector involvement in tourism and their relationship with new governance concepts are studied. This renewed sense of government in participating in the tourism sector is intertwined with the way in which they relate to the players that integrate the tourism industry and society.