Coimbra, Portugal, March 13, 2025 (Lusa) - A top Portuguese tourism official on Thursday called for regions across Iberia to work together to create what she stressed could be "the world's largest tourism platform" - after a year in which Portugal received around 30 million tourists and Spain 94 million.
Anabela Freitas, the vice-president of the Turismo Centro de Portugal, was speaking at the presentation of a joint cross-border tourism promotion strategy that includes Portugal's Centro and Alentejo tourism regions with Spain's Extremadura, presented at the Lisbon Tourism Exchange (BTL), Portugal's largest annual trade fair for the sector.
"We have to work together to position ourselves as the largest tourism platform in the world," she said.
At the same session, Jesús Vinuales, director of Extremadura Tourism, praised the partnership between the three regions as "the result of good relations" and argued that Portugal constitutes "the differentiating factor" for tourism in his region, as it allows visitors to get to know two countries.
"Two countries that once turned their backs on each other are now shaking hands," he said.
José Santos, president of Turismo do Alentejo, said that the cross-border partnership was an "opportunity to turn a territorial product into a commercial product.
"We need to turn this potential into an effective sales force," he said, adding that co-operation between the three entities “is an opportunity” to make the territory more competitive “at times of the year when there is less demand.”
According to information provided to the Lusa news agency by Turismo Centro de Portugal, the joint initiatives planned for this year under the partnership include a series of promotional actions planned for June in Madrid and Lisbon with the media, as well as having a promotional aspect for the general public.
In November, in Elvas, a business meeting is scheduled to bring together entrepreneurs and administrations from the tourism sector in the Centre of Portugal, Alentejo and Extremadura.
"With this strategy, travellers have the opportunity to get to know two different countries in a single destination," said the Turismo Centro de Portugal. "These are regions that share a common territory and culture. Together, we can work and do much more for our people, our territories, our identity and culture."
Regarding the types of products that can be promoted together, the organisation cited natural spaces, such as national parks, biosphere reserves, geoparks, nature reserves, reservoirs and lakes, but also culture and traditions, UNESCO World Heritage sites, castles scattered throughout the territory, historic or schist villages, gastronomy and wines.
JLS/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
