LANDHerit – Integrated Heritage Destinations Management: Risks and Sustainability

LANDHerit - Integrated Heritage Destinations Management: Risks and Sustainability

Summary

The relationship between heritage and tourism is dynamic and interdependent. Tourism valorisation can contribute to the conservation, activation, and transmission of heritage resources, while heritage, as an expression of the identity, memory, and distinctiveness of territories, strengthens destination differentiation and attractiveness.

In this context, tourism can act as a driver of socio-economic and territorial development, promoting employment, entrepreneurship, and value retention within local economies, while also supporting the continuity of cultural practices, knowledge, traditions, and expressions.

The integrated valorisation of heritage and cultural landscapes can further diversify the tourism offer, stimulate new economic dynamics, and contribute to a more balanced distribution of tourist flows and their associated benefits. It can thereby strengthen the articulation between heritage conservation, local development, sustainability, and destination resilience. However, tourism and economic development must be framed by the capacity of heritage resources and landscapes to withstand the pressures arising from tourism activity and territorial transformations.

Heritage destinations are exposed to multiple pressures and risks, resulting both from human activities, such as overtourism, inappropriate urbanisation, vandalism, and the overexploitation of resources, and from natural and environmental factors, including erosion, extreme events, and climate change. These risks may compromise not only the physical integrity of heritage assets but also their cultural, landscape, and social values. Therefore, the economic valorisation of territories cannot be dissociated from the identification of the limits, risks, and vulnerabilities of destinations. It is essential to ensure a balance between valorisation and protection through management models capable of anticipating risks, reducing vulnerabilities, monitoring transformations, and promoting adaptation to environmental, social, and economic change.

LANDHerit adopts an integrated approach, combining geospatial analysis, in situ observation, photographic documentation, interviews, and qualitative and quantitative data. This methodology enables the analysis of relationships between heritage, landscape, and tourism; the identification of areas of risk and vulnerability; and the development of strategies for conservation, adaptive management, and long-term monitoring.

The resilience of heritage destinations therefore depends on the articulation between conservation, sustainable tourism, risk management, adaptation, and local community participation. LANDHerit seeks to contribute to destinations capable of responding to environmental, social, and economic transformations while safeguarding their cultural and natural values and ensuring their valorisation for present and future generations.

Sustainable Development Goals

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

11. Sustainable Cities and Comunities

12. Responsible Consumption and Production

13. Climate Action

17. Partnerships to achieve objectives

Responsible Researcher

Isabel Freitas

Orcid Envelope

Other Researchers

Fátima Silva

Orcid Envelope

Helena Albuquerque

Orcid Envelope

Makhabbat Ramazanova

Orcid Envelope

Sofia Gomes

Orcid Envelope

Joana Quintela

Orcid Envelope

Sónia Nogueira

Orcid Envelope

Jorge Marques

Orcid Envelope

Mónica Alcindor

Orcid Envelope

Joaquim Flores

Orcid Envelope

Ana Martins (PhD student - PhD in Business Sciences)

Jinoos Saman (Master’s student - Master’s in Tourism and Hospitality)

Publications

  • Freitas, I. V., & Silva, F. M. (Eds.) (2026). Cultural Landscapes in Transition: Balancing Heritage, Development, and Sustainability (Second Edition) [editorial]. Land, (special issue). Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/7141

    Freitas, I. V., & Silva, F. M. (Eds.) (2026). Cultural Landscapes in Transition: Balancing Heritage, Development, and Sustainability. MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/7142

    Srivastava, S., Freitas, I. V., & Rabaçal, E. (Eds.) (2026). Living Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Management: Policies, Principles and Propositions. Part of the book series: Heritage Studies (HEST). Springer. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-15504-7
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/7226

    Freitas, I. V., Flores, J., & Albuquerque, H. (2026). Historical Maps as a Tool for Underwater Cultural Heritage Recognition. Heritage, 9(4), 132, 1-18. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage9040132
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/7032

    Freitas, I. V., Lopes, H. S., & Silva, F. M. (2025). Identifying Coastal Heritage Vulnerabilities: The Case of Historical Fortified Structures in Northern Portugal. Land, 14(12), 2396, 1-31. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/land14122396
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6828

    Silva, F. M., & Freitas, I. V. (Eds.) (2025). Revitalizing Heritage Places and Memories for Sustainable Tourism. Heritage, (special issue), 1. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6138

    Martoni, R. M., Freitas, I. V., Paixão, H. M., & Borges, G. C. (2025). “Sentido da mineração”, patrimônio e turismo: Remanescentes arquitetônicos do Caminho do Paraibuna, Brasil. PatryTer: Revista Latinoamericana e Caribenha de Geografia e Humanidades, 9(17), 1-20. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.26512/patryter.v9i17.56796
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6814

    Freitas, I. V., Albuquerque, H., Cornejo, A., & Gardner, G.A. (2025). Cultural Wine Landscape Characterization: The Vinho Verde Region as an Example of an Approach. In H. Albuquerque, I. Freitas, G. A. Gardner (Eds.), Wine Tourism and Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Approach, (pp. 235-255). Springer. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97934-7_11
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6698

    Freitas, I. V., & Silva, F. M. (Eds.) (2025). Cultural Landscapes in Transition: Balancing Heritage, Development, and Sustainability. Land, (special issue), 1. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6113

    Albuquerque, H., Freitas, I. V., & Gardner. G. A. (Eds.) (2025). Wine Tourism and Landscapes: Challenges and Opportunities for a Sustainable Approach. Springer. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97934-7
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6696

    Ramazanova, M., Freitas, I. V., Castro, A. M., & Dentinho, T. P. (2025). Perceptions of Residents of the North of Portugal on Traditional Gastronomy with a Generalized Q Analysis. Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Regionais (RPER), (72), 97-113. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.59072/rper.vi72.743
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6666

    Freitas, I. V., & Martoni, R. M. (2025). Revitalizing the Estrada do Paraibuna: Exploring sustainable and regenerative Tourism dynamics. Heritage, 8(6), 214, 1-16. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8060214
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6376

    Freitas, I. V. d., Mourão, P. J. R., & Albuquerque, H. (2025). Do medieval castles drive heritage-based development in low-density areas? Heritage, 8(6), 197, 1-24. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8060197
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6355

    Silva, F. M., Ramazanova, M., & Freitas, I. V. (2025). Safeguarding traditional Portuguese gastronomy as an intangible cultural heritage through Tourism: The case of North of Portugal. Tourism and Hospitality, 6(2), 92, 1-16. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/tourhosp6020092
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6321

    Silva, F. M., & Freitas, I. V. (Eds.) (2025). Heritage Tourism and Sustainable City Dynamics. MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-3366-5
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6218

    Ramazanova, M., Silva, F. M., & Freitas, I. V. (2024). Tourists’ views on sustainable heritage management in Porto, Portugal: Balancing heritage preservation and Tourism. Heritage, 8(1), 10, 1-14. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage8010010
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/6057

    Freitas, I. V., Lopes, H. S., & Albuquerque, H. (2024). Historical landscape: A methodological proposal to analyse the settlements of monasteries in the birth of Portugal. Religions, 15(10), 1158, 1-17. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101158
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/5950

    Freitas, I. V., & Ramazanova, M. (2025). The potential of Military Tourism for peace fostering and sustainable heritage management. In S. Srivastava, & R. Kulshrestha (Eds.), Dynamics of Heritage Management and Tourism Development: Trends, practices, and approaches. CRC Press; Apple Academic Press. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/5876

    Freitas, I. V., & Albuquerque, H. (2024). The historical landscape between Portugal and Castile at the end of the Middle Ages on the riverbanks of the Douro: GIS applied to Demarcações de Fronteira. Edad Media: Revista de Historia, (25), 421-457. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.24197/em.25.2024.421-457
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/5726

    Ramazanova, M., Cardoso, R. S., & Freitas, I. V. (2024). The role of social media in the conservation and safeguard of gastronomy as intangible cultural heritage. In J. Chica-Olmo, M. Vujičić, R. A. Castanho, U. Stankov, & E. Martinelli (Eds.), Sustainable Tourism, Culture and Heritage Promotion: Development, Management and Connectivity (Part of the Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation book series - ASTI). CST 2022: The International Conference on Cultural Sustainable Tourism, Maia, Portugal, 22-23 november 2022, (pp. 89-97). Springer. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49536-6_10
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/5505

    Silva, F. M., & Freitas, I. V. (Eds.) (2023). Heritage Tourism and Sustainable City Dynamics. Heritage, (Special issue), 1-2. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://hdl.handle.net/11328/5170

    Quintela, J. A., Albuquerque, H., Freitas, I. (2023). Port wine and wine tourism: the touristic dimension of Douro’s landscape. Sustainability, 15, 11718, pp. 1-23. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511718
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/5057

    Ramazanova, M., Freitas, I. V., & Castro, A. M. (2023). Residents' perceptions towards gastronomy as intangible cultural heritage and an engine for tourism development [abstract]. In P. Remoaldo, F. Nunes, H. S. Lopes, L. Vareiro, J. C. Ribeiro, J. Leitão, & E. Martins (Coords.), 30th APDR Congress: Sustainability Development Challenges of Territories in Contexts of Uncertainties due to External Shocks and Risks: Programme and Abstracts, Braga, Portugal, 19-21 july 2023, (pp. 188-189). APDR - Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento Regional. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/5015

    Freitas, I. V., Martoni, R. M., & Bruno, K. A. (2023). Elementos do valor patrimonial e de memória. Enfoque desde Itatiaia (Ouro Branco, MG, Brasil). PatryTer: Revista Latinoamericana e Caribenha de Geografia e Humanidades, 6(12), e42445, 1-18. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    https://doi.org/10.26512/patryter.v6i12.42445
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/4833

    Ramazanova, M., & Freitas, I. V. (2023). Gastronomy as intangible cultural heritage and a tool for tourism development: perceptions of residents [abstract]. In C. Seabra, R. Peres, S. Almeida, & S. Mesquita (Eds.), DSOTT 2023: Diversity and Sustainability: Opportunities and Threats, Book of Abstracts, Coimbra, Portugal, 31 may-2 june 2023, (p. 164). Universidade de Coimbra; Universidade Europeia; Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/5016

    Remoaldo, P., Matos, O., Freitas, I., Gôja, R., Alves, J. A., Ribeiro, V., Pereira, M., & Xavier, C. (2022). An international overview of certified practices in creative tourism in rural and urban territories. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 46(8), 1546-1573. DOI: 10.1177/1096348020950792. Disponível no Repositório UPT.
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/3186

    Freitas, I. V., Ramazanova, M., Albuquerque, H., & Soares, P. (2022). Traditional wine landscape as a rural heritage: portuguese verde wine vineyards. In C. Silva, M. Oliveira, & S. Silva (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Tourism Research (ICTR 2022), Porto, Portugal, 19-20 may 2022, (pp. 459-468). Acil. Repositório Institucional UPT.
    http://hdl.handle.net/11328/4139

PhD Students

Ana Martins

A economia do esquecimento e a governação territorial do património cultural nas regiões portuguesas de baixa densidade

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