On June 18, BRU-Iscte integrated researchers Álvaro Dias and Maria José Sousa hosted the second public workshop of the Interreg-Euro-MED project SMITour, titled “Challenges and opportunities of Industrial Tourism in Portugal”.
The event focused on success stories and case studies, sparking a debate on the sector’s challenges and opportunities for economic development, innovation, and social growth.
The workshop was chaired by Álvaro Dias, who also presented a first overview of the results of a survey analysing data and inputs from industrial tourism sites in the several countries forming the SMITour consortium, Illustrating similarities and distances, strengths and weaknesses of the different countries approaches.
Besides Álvaro Dias, from BRU-Iscte and Paulo Guarnieri, on behalf of the project leader, municipality of Prato (Italy), the workshop included contributions from Teresa Ferreira, Turismo de Portugal, Marco Noivo, Universidade Lusófona, Susana Cayolla, Conservas Pinhais Museum and the application of design thinking to industrial tourism by António Pesqueira from Iscte-IPPS.
On the following day, the SMITour project partners had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the subject matter with hands-on visits to the Michel Giacometti Museum of Labor in Setúbal, an old canning factory transformed into a museum emphasizing the area’s industrial heritage; and a tide mill (Moinho de Maré de Mourisca) located in the Sado Estuary Natural Reserve.
BRU-Iscte and the SMITour partners acknowledge and thank the support of Entidade Regional de Turismo da Região de Lisboa in financing and organising the visits.
