The consequence of its geographical position the city of Lisbon has developed
a close relationship with the river (Tagus river) and the sea (Atlantic
Ocean). Portugal was one of the pioneering nations in the Sea Discoveries
(intensive maritime exploration mainly during the 15th century). Lisbon
was the port of departure for these adventures. This fact early conditioned
the relationship of the city with the river and the sea, and organized the city
waterfront as a space mostly devoted to economic activity and commercial
trading. With the development of tourism in Europe, Portugal has established
itself as a major European destination and Lisbon, as result of its
historical heritage, an important city-break destination. In this conversion
process Lisbon has reinvented its relationship with the river. The waterfront
has been taken as a strategic point of tourism attraction and development.
In this context, nautical tourism has assumed particular prominence,
both as a tourism product, and also associated with major international
yachting events which have put Lisbon in world news.Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), European Commission (EC

Completo, Fernando

Gustavo, Nuno

Repositório Comum

Lisbon as a Nautical Events Destination:A New Leisure and Tourism AttractionFernando Completo and Nuno GustavoEstoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, Portugalfernando.completo@eshte.ptnuno.gustavo@eshte.ptThe consequence of its geographical position the city of Lisbon has devel-oped a close relationship with the river (Tagus river) and the sea (AtlanticOcean). Portugal was one of the pioneering nations in the Sea Discoveries(intensive maritime exploration mainly during the 15th century). Lisbonwas the port of departure for these adventures. This fact early conditionedthe relationship of the city with the river and the sea, and organized the citywaterfront as a space mostly devoted to economic activity and commercialtrading. With the development of tourism in Europe, Portugal has estab-lished itself as a major European destination and Lisbon, as result of itshistorical heritage, an important city-break destination. In this conversionprocess Lisbon has reinvented its relationship with the river. The water-front has been taken as a strategic point of tourism attraction and devel-opment. In this context, nautical tourism has assumed particular promi-nence, both as a tourism product, and also associated with major interna-tional yachting events which have put Lisbon in world news.Keywords tourism destination; tourism development; nautical tourismIntroductionThe alternative tourism has been gaining an increasing role in the pro-motion and territorial marketing, working as a differentiating factor inthe context of tourism. The nautical tourism emerges within this conceptas a tool for the development of coastal areas (both in recreational andsports dimensions) either as cruise tourism destination or as a mean forinternational events.The infrastructures development process within these waterfront ar-eas as well as the strategic promotion of nautical events, transformed, inthe last ten years, the city of Lisbon, allowing the Tagus River waterfrontreturn back to citizens and making it one of the most important and at-tractive places for leisure, tourism and nautical events.37Fernando Completo and Nuno GustavoThe touristic and economic dimensions as well as the internationalprojection (aesthetic-culture) of Lisbon are directly and widely benefitedwith the promotion of nautical activities, bringing Portugal’s capital tothe top of European Destinations.Lisbon and the Sea: A Historical RelationBuilt on the banks of the river Tagus,1 the most important river of theIberian Peninsula, and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the city ofLisbon was once famous worldwide alongside cities like Rotterdam andAntwerp, as one of the most important maritime and trading posts andas the European gateway for all maritime traffic fromAsia, Africa and theAmerican continent.Nevertheless, the decline of the Portuguese maritime-commercial em-pire, in the late 15th century, the violent earthquake in 1755 which de-stroyed a substantial part of the city, and the characteristics of a pro-longed dictatorship in the 20th century, gradually drew visitors away andrefrained the international recognition of a city filled with valuable his-torical heritage as well as significant beauty.Out of the flow of the international grand tour,2 especially due to theperipheral geographical condition of Portugal within Europe, it was verydifficult to put Lisbon on the map and show the world the importance ofLisbon and its profound connection to the river Tagus. During the 20thcentury it happened only on rare occasions.The alleged neutrality of the country during the Second World War,turned the city and its west coast3 into a privileged scenario for spying andcounter-intelligence services, at which point a considerable number ofBritish andGerman secret agents roamed hotels in the area, on espionagemissions.Earlier, in the late 30s, the Spanish Republic and the CivilWar, broughtto these same places a considerable number of refugees. Soon after, in theearly 40s, the air-bridge between Europe and the United States, with its1 The Tagus estuary is the largest in Europe, with about 34.000 hectares, and a sanctuaryfor fish, mollusks, crustaceans and especially for birds that stop here during their migra-tion between northern Europe and Africa, as it is one of the most important wetlands inEurope.2 Initial phase of tourist demand, 18th and 19th centuries.3 The seaside towns of Estoril and Cascais (Portuguese Riviera) are located just a few kilo-meters from Lisbon and concentrated a great number of foreigners between the 30s and40s in the 20th century.38Lisbon as a Nautical Events Destinationbase in the hydro-port of the Tagus, made it possible for thousands ofrefugees to escape Nazi persecution, fleeing to America through Lisbon.More recently, in the second half of the 20th century, as a consequenceof the Israeli-Arab political and military crisis (shut down of the SuezCanal) and benefiting from its extraordinary geo-strategic position, Lis-bon started receiving the new supertankers which were forced to resumeto the dangerous and slow Cape Route and which needed to stop in theTagus shipyards for repairs and renovations.Though this fact did increase the nautical and commercial aspect ofthe city and its harbor, and raised the Portuguese naval and metal indus-try to a worldwide position, it also had a strong negative impact not juston the environmental quality of the river Tagus, but also on the relation-ship between Lisbon inhabitants and the river. For decades, the access tomost of the 19 km of the northern riverside and almost all the southernriverside was forbidden to the population and was used only for docking,ship repair, oil pipeline and loading and unloading terminals.Lisbon as a Tourism Destination: Nautical Tourismas Part of the Tipping-Point StrategyThe truth is that the city, despite its strong and historical connection tothe sea, slowly turned its back on the riverside and the people fromLisbonabandoned all leisure and sport activities associated with it. The environ-mental conditions were dreadful. They fostered the large-scale estrange-ment of the population, as well as any efforts to restore the riverfront asone of the main attractions of the city.The situation began to change in 1994. There was a turning point,tipping-point strategy (Gladwell, 2000) with the winning bidding of Lis-bon to hold theWorld Expo (expo 98) which was focused on the Oceanand its preservation and the celebration of the 500th anniversary of thePortuguese arrival in India (1498) and the opening of the sea route be-tween East and West through the Atlantic route.The expo 98 led to a huge effort of urban rehabilitation of the easternriverside and the requalification of an area that was highly degraded be-cause of the location of a landfill and some of themajor heavy and pollut-ing industries of the city (refinery, processing and storage of fossil fuels).The renovation of the eastern area of Lisbon, initiated in 1998 with thetransformation of an obsolete industrial park into a leisure, service andhousing area, allowed not only to provide a number of cultural, leisure39Fernando Completo and Nuno Gustavoand sports infrastructures,4 but also to undertake other necessary envi-ronmental improvements of the river and its tributaries5which continuedin the following years.Although the expo 98 worked effectively as an ignition factor of theentire process of urban and tourist change and requalification of the cityof Lisbon, it is also important to add three other factors of major impor-tance, in order to understand the current tourism performance of Lis-bon6 and the importance that the river Tagus and the sea have in thisprocess.1. A clear ideological return to the Sea, as a source of economic devel-opment of the country7 (Pitta e Cunha, 2011), enhancing not only thegeo-strategic aspect of the country, but also the implementation ofa strategic development plan for the Sea, focused on the promotionof the blue economy (SaeR, 2009) and the rising of new strategicproducts associated to tourism, sports, scientific development andalternative energy resources.2. A clear commitment on the part of the Town Council to give theriverside back to the people of Lisbon within the years 2011–2014(Associação de Turismo de Lisboa, 2011), strongly focusing on therelationship of the Sea as a unique element in the value chain of Lis-bon’s supply as a tourist destination. In this framework it was es-pecially important to re-qualify the riverside of Lisbon,8 construct acruise terminal, change the location of the container terminal (park-ing, loading and unloading of containers) and improve the eight har-bors between Cascais in the west and Parque das Nações to the eastof Lisbon, for recreational, sport, tourism and business purposes.Lisbon has a high potential in this context and appears as an impor-4Oceanarium, multipurpose pavilion, museums, theaters, hotels and marinas.5 Dredging and toxic substances removal, construction of water treatment plants, con-struction and enlargement of the cruise pier and transference of the container terminalto another area.6 Ranked as one of the most beautiful cities of the world, alongside Venice, Paris andPrague, and the most attractive tourism destination for European and Americans in2012/2013, Lisbon has had, according to theObservatório de Turismo de Lisboa, 5 millionforeign tourists in the year 2012.7 Portugal is the eu country with the largest exclusive economic zone whichmay be extendto over 2.000.000 km2 with the probable amendment proposed by the task group of theextension of the continental shelf.8 Pedestrian zones along the northern river bank, cycle lanes, gardens and public leisurespaces, urban sports facilities and restaurant and hotel infrastructures.40Lisbon as a Nautical Events Destinationtant destination for nautical tourism: ‘The region of Lisbon coversan extensive sea area [. . .] where there is a supply of infrastructuresand natural conditions for water sports – such as surf, sailing, fish-ing, diving, etc. – and for water-tourism activities’ (Associação deTurismo de Lisboa, 2011).3. As mentioned above, the influx of cruises in the river Tagus hashighly increased in the past few years. According to the apl9 thenumber of passengers had an average annual variation of 14 in aperiod of five years (2006–2011), from 270 thousand to over 502,000.The number of port calls had an average annual growth of 4, from269 in 2006 to 33 in 2011. With results like these, the port of Lisbonpositioned itself on the second place of the Cruise Europe Europeanports ranking (this association gathers over 100 harbors of the Eu-rope and Northern Europe Atlantic ports, and Lisbon is surpassedonly by Copenhagen).4. Finally, the compromising strategy regarding the market of majorwater sports events as a factor for economic promotion and spread-ing of tourism potential (Getz, 1991) in Lisbon, began with the bid-ding for America’s Cup 2007 and even though it was lost to Valen-cia (in Spain), it ignited a number of large-scale international eventswhich have been of the uttermost importance for the projection ofLisbon as a nautical tourism destination.The renowned quality of the estuary of the river Tagus and the coast ofEstoril for sailing competitions has allowed to conduct the isaf SailingWorld Championship in 2007, one of the qualifying rounds of all sail-ing categories for the Olympics. The European leg of the America’s CupWorld Series took place in Cascais in 2011, and in 2012 the first Europeanstopover and first European leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in the estuary ofthe Tagus.10According to the consultant firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers Portugal,the 2012 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race represented ‘an economic im-pact of 29 to 34 million Euros and a direct economic effect of 16.4 millionEuros.’ When arriving to Lisbon the vor website recorded more than 7million viewers and over 200.000 people visited the Race Tracker.The famous Tall Ships’ Race had a stopover and a regatta in 2012, alsoin the Tagus estuary, and some rounds of theWorldMatch Racing Sailing9 apl – Administração do Porto de Lisboa (Lisbon Port Administration).10 Lisbon will once more hold a new leg of the Volvo Ocean Race in 2015.41Fernando Completo and Nuno GustavoTour have come through Lisbon. The latest was La Route des Princes, inJune 2013.As for surf, the region of Lisbon has hosted some of the major eventsof the World Tour Championship (wtc) and World Qualifying Series(wqs). Moreover for the first time outside Hawaii, a Triple Crown Racewill be held in Portugal in September, of which two of its rounds will beheld in the western coast of Lisbon (Carcavelos).One of the rounds of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal category in 2012 gen-erated 7.8 million Euros in direct revenue and attracted 130,000 people tothe event at the Supertubos beach in Peniche, thus expanding the touristseason out of its usual period and increasing tourism revenues on a locallevel. This event had more than five million viewers on the Internet andover 45 million on tv broadcasts.All these water sports events have increased the prestige of the tourismof Lisbon. They represent a significant contribution for the tourist pro-motion of the city and help develop the local economic fabric and stim-ulate the creation of new tourism products in the sector. The growth ofwater sports tourism activities has fostered the increase of offer and sup-ply of water sports activities and thus leading to the growth of clubs andenthusiasts, in a snowball effect that brings more events to Lisbon andincreases tourist demand.ReferencesAssociação de Turismo de Lisboa (2011). tlx 14 – Plano Estratégico 2011–2014. Lisbon, Potugal: Author.Gladwell, M. (2000). The tipping point: How little things can make a bigdifference.New York, ny: Little Brown.Getz, D. (1991). Festivals, special events and tourism. New York, ny: VonNostrand.Pitta e Cunha, T. (2011). Portugal e o mar. Lisbon, Potugal: Fundação Fran-cisco Manuel de Almeida.SaeR (2009).O hypercluster da economia do mar: Um domínio de potencialestratégico para o desenvolvimento da economia portuguesa. Lisbon,Potugal: acl.42

Lisbon as a nautical events destination: a new leisure and tourism attraction

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Lisbon as a nautical events destination: a new leisure and tourism attraction

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