The Sociedade Propaganda de Portugal and the State: Public and private powers in the construction of Portuguese tourism (1906-1911)

Abstract

This paper aims to present Sociedade Propaganda de Portugal (SPP), the first organization, founded in 1906, to develop and promote a tourism project for the country, starting from the standpoint of the relation between the state and private entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. Beginning by analyzing the pioneer project of the SPP, as it reveals the realization of the need for the articulation of the various agents (transport, services, advertising) in promoting tourism and the modern nature of its plans and discourses, a modernity based on concepts of economic and culture development and aligned with the European paradigm of the time. The articulation of the different tourism sector players leads us to the analysis of the relationship between public and private initiative. SPP positions itself as an organization of private individuals, regarding private initiative as beneficial per se and tourism essentially as an activity preferably of its competence, which should not be left to the state. However, through its associative nature and configuration, SPP will establish the state as its principal partner; many of its plans could not be implemented without state support and its effective action capabilities, which, for its part, often hindered SPP’s activity. In other words, development and modernity are associated with a healthy and strong private sector but that cannot thrive without a cooperating state. It is therefore this paper’s intention to present the results of the Master’s thesis on the SPP and bring some contributions to the study of the role of public and private sector initiatives in Portuguese tourism.