Cultural heritage in Vale do Alva: The Great Alva Trail

Abstract

The interest of interpreting the value of heritage to tourism and leisure is the main motivation to research about the resources associated to the Alva river region. There are important heritage resources, corresponding to their ancient human occupation. The Alva river is located on the southwest slope of the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal in the Natural Park of the Serra da Estrela, extending from the Seia to the Penacova municipality. In this paper we recognize that cultural tourism should be complementary to nature tourism as anchor products for regional development, particularly by the hiking routes potential and also by the interest of diverse river associated activities. It is necessary to begin with a rigorous inventory of the resources to understand their potential, an essential step for the definition of tourism products’ meaning. With this methodology based in field work, we can determine the prospective of this tourism destination and develop the tourist image of this region, which we would like to name Alvaland for international plans. It’s important to aggregate the tourism offer in the municipalities of this territory, namely with the establishment of the Alva Great Route (AGR), a project that will be develop in partnership between municipalities. The field methodology is based in the diagnostic of the existing walking routes and their feasibility to contribute to a better integration of these routes, in a sub-regional economic driver. This inventory and aggregation strategy could contribute to the development of hiking products, linking natural and cultural resources.