Landscape as a tourism resource: a case study in the Northern Region of Portugal

This article aims to emphasize the importance and function of the landscape as a tourism resource, increasingly valued in tourism destinations. The landscapes are the subject of discussion and the object of sensitization to the valorisation and preservation in recent years. Nowadays, the landscape has acquired a greater appreciation on the part of society, because it is often assigned values representative by one or more sets of individuals. The valuation of the landscape allowed to create regulations and legislation related to its preservation and maintenance. In this sense, this research focuses on the importance of the landscape as a tourism resource and its impact on the motivation and preferences of the tourist in the northern region of Portugal as a tourism destination. Results demonstrate the preference about “coastal landscape”, followed by “mountain landscape”; also, Porto Metropolitan Area is notably the most visited region in the North of Portugal, followed by the Douro region. Most respondents agree that they usually include viewpoint in their journey plans, emphasizing “natural viewpoints”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio