A Route Implementation Model for Military Tourism: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Abstract

Military tourism has been growing in Portugal in recent years with numerous initiatives to enhance and promote the country’s military and historical heritage. In the academic context, studies have emerged to consolidate the segment in the tourism activity. In this framework, INSIGNIA was born, a project aimed at monitoring, evaluating and optimizing the Military Tourism Route. The implementation of the route and the network-based strategies chosen to structure the supply have been monitored to register key insights gathered through this model of heritage asset intervention and tourism development. This paper proposes a reflective overview of the implementation and monitoring processes, a lookback at the work conducted. Firstly, proposes a reflection on the implementation process, tracing its genesis in response to the conjunctures of the structuring of tourism supply and the consolidation of the concept itself. It seeks to reflect on the specific choices and services developed during the implementation process. Based on this lookback, the authors then propose a replicable model to guide these implementation processes. Using the monitoring experience of this study as a reference point, the model suggests possible metrics, as well as proposals for the collection and analysis of data relevant to its wider application.