The promotion and enhancement of Tomar’s heritage: the creation of a viewpoints route

  • Célio Gonçalo Marques Tecnh&Art, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
  • Paula Almeida Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
  • Marta Marta Dionísio Tecnh&Art, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
  • Cláudia Pires da Silva Tecnh&Art, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
  • Sónia Pais Polytechnic Institute of Tomar
  • Filipa Fernandes Tecnh&Art, Tomar City Councillor
Keywords: cultural heritage, touristic routes, viewpoints, information Communication technologies, gamificacion

Abstract

Tomar is a Portuguese city located in the centre of Portugal. Its history is closely linked to the history of Portugal, having been the headquarters of the Military Orders of the Temple and of Christ. The city of Tomar is characterized by a great artistic, cultural and natural wealth, being the Templar Castle and the Convent of Christ its greatest ex-libris. Less known but of great historical value are the viewpoints of this Templar city that allow tourists to enjoy the magnificent and diverse landscapes. In order to promote this heritage, this study aims to create the Viewpoints Route of Tomar. This route involves the study and characterization of the viewpoints, the development of the route and an investment in its promotion and accessibility (access roads, signs, cleaning, etc.). It is intended the use of information and communication technologies to provide information to tourists, namely QR codes, audio guides, virtual reality, augmented reality, among others. It is also intended to use gamification strategies (i.e. geocaching) and the presentation of information in several languages to increase the attractiveness of this heritage. In economic terms, these viewpoints routes are ways of attracting tourists to the region and to create value, promoting the development of infrastructures and new business models. At the same time, there are some environment damages which demands some procedures to assure sustainability.

References

Almeida, R. N., Marques, C. G., Almeida, P., & Lopes, E. (2018). From the Convent to the streets: Recentering touristic products through gamification and ICT based strategies. International Journal of Scientific Management and Tourism, 4(2), pp. 37-50.

ANACOM (2019). Internet móvel chega aos 7,8 milhões de utilizadores, ANACOM - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações. Retrieved December 22, 2019 from https://bit.ly/2tR0MZ9

Araújo, S. (2017). Rotas Turísticas e Sistemas de Recomendação no Norte de Portugal: uma análise do perfil do visitante. Master Thesis. Porto: Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto.

Briedenham, J. & Wickens, E. (2003), Tourism routes as a tool for the economic development of rural areas - vibrant hope or impossible dream? Tourism Management 25 (2004), 71-79.

Carvalho, A., Teixeira, B. & Gouveia, M. (2016). Proposta de uma rota turístico- religiosa: Bragança-Mirandela. In XVII Encuentro AECA (pp. 1-15). Bragança.

Dan, W. Xiang, Z., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2014). Adapting to the Mobile World: A Model of Smartphone Use, Annals of Tourism Research, 48, 11–26.

Denso-Wave (2019). What is a QR Code? QR Code.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019 from http://www.qrcode.com/en/about

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification". In Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments (MindTrek '11). New York, NY: ACM.

Kemp, S. (2019). Digital 2019, We Are Social. Retrieved December 22, 2019 from https://bit.ly/2Rqto4u

López-Guzmán, T., Vicente, F. J. L., & Merinero-Rodríguez, R. (2006). Las rutas turísticas como motor de desarrollo económico local. La ruta del "Tempranillo", Estudios Turísticos, 167 (2006), 131-145.

Maia, S. V., & Baptista, M. M. (2011). As rotas como estratégia turística. Percepção de benefícios e obstáculos na constituição de rotas museológicas na região de Aveiro. In International Conference on Tourism & Management Studies - Algarve 2011. (672-682). Faro.

Marques, C. (2016). Contextos educativos formais e não formais: os desafios do Geocaching. Castelo Branco: Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco.

Marques, C. (2017). Gamification: conceitos e aplicações. In 1.a Conferência Ibérica em Gestão Estratégica de Capital Humano (CIGECH). Tomar: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar.
Marques, C. (2018). Mobile technologies for tourism and culture. Superavit: Revista de Gestão & Ideias, 3, 67-77.

Mesquita, A. S. B. (2016). Efeitos turísticos da Rota do Românico: os Mosteiros do Salvador de Travanca (Amarante) e do Salvador de Paço de Sousa (Penafiel), Pasos – Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 14(4), 999-1012.

Salvado, J., Marques, J. & Remelgado, P. (2017). Dinâmicas Culturais nas Rotas dos Vinhos como forma de criação de valor na experiência turística, RT&D - Revista de Turismo & Desenvolvimento, 27-28-2017(1), 1043-1060.

Silva, L. O. (2009). Potencialidades dos serviços móveis de Realidade Aumentada aplicados ao Turismo. In Actas do 8o Congresso LUSOCOM (pp. 2296-2314). Lisboa: Universidade Lusófona.

Xu, F., Weber, J., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Gamification in Tourism. In Z. Xiang & I. Tussyadiah (Eds), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Cham: Springer.
Published
2021-01-01
How to Cite
Gonçalo Marques, C., Almeida, P., Marta Dionísio, M., Pires da Silva, C., Pais, S., & Fernandes, F. (2021, January 1). The promotion and enhancement of Tomar’s heritage: the creation of a viewpoints route. Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research, 4(1), 69-84. Retrieved from https://jthr.es/index.php/journal/article/view/247