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In the context of multiple repurposing of rural spaces, tourism represents a path for development, with the potential to revitalize these areas. The conservation and restoration of heritage, and its promotion through tourism, can become an opportunity for local development, in which a range of stakeholders fulfil different roles in the carrying out of the processes involved. The aim of the study was to analyse the heritagisation processes and their tourist value enhancement and how it affects local development in Mértola (Baixo Alentejo, Portugal). A series of interviews with the chief stakeholders in the process were conducted, from which the contexts and conceptualisations of development were determined. On the basis of secondary data in terms of statistics, an analysis of the impacts of the process of heritagisation and the development of tourism was undertaken. The main conclusions drawn by the research are the following: (a) the importance of the process of heritagisation in Mértola; (b) the viability of the project, given the cost and lack of comprehensive conservation, in creating a unified whole; (c) the performance of, and power relationships between, the various stakeholders; (d) the limited participation of locals due to disaffection with the project; (e) the correlation between heritage, rural tourism, and local development.

This article explores the relationship between the spatial concentration of short-term rentals in Lisbon’s historic center and the phenomena of uneven development and tourism gentrification. By providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of the uneven geographic distribution of tourist apartments within the municipality of Lisbon, it contributes to the study of the new processes of neoliberal urbanization in the crisis-ridden countries of Southern Europe. It argues that the great share of whole-home rentals and the expansion of the short-term rental market over the housing stock are symptoms of the commodification of housing in the neoliberal city. Due to the loss of consumption capacity by the Portuguese society amid crisis and austerity, real estate developers target external markets and local households must compete for access to a limited housing stock with tourists and other temporary city users. The subsequent global rent gap stimulates the proliferation of vacation rentals at the expense of the supply of residential housing, fueling property prices and jeopardizing housing affordability. With Portugal being a peripheral member of the EU and the Eurozone, the vulnerability of local households to the impacts of tourism gentrification is aggravated by the remarkable income gap with their counterparts of the core.

Nowadays, around half of the global population lives in urban areas. This rate is expected to increase up to two-thirds by the year 2050. Most studies analyze urban dynamics in wide geographic ranges, focusing mainly on cities. According to them, the global population is spatially distributed (and polarized) in two extremes: large urban agglomerations and rural deserts. However, this remark is excessively general and imprecise. For this reason, it remains essential to analyze these dynamics at other spatial scales. A close-up look in thinly populated regions shows how urban dynamics are also noticeable. In this paper, we analyze spatiotemporal patterns of population distribution in a predominantly rural area by applying a local-scale approach. These patterns are represented by using spatial networks with nodes representing the human settlements and links showing hierarchies between nodes. This case study is conducted in a small municipality located in northwestern Spain. It is a predominantly rural area with a very particular spatial pattern of population distribution.

The attractiveness of a tourist destination is derived from multiple material and immaterial elements. Cinema is both a tourist communication channel and provides a target market for a destination. Many regions offer a great variety of potential locations desirable for their scenic beauty and artistic and monumental heritage. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the concept of sustainable tourism as a pillar of the contemporary cinematic discourse on pilgrimage routes, combining theoretical and empirical methodologies. It begins by analyzing how, given their power, images are narrative instruments that assume a true performative value of geographical reality. The research then focuses on the cinematographic space and visual cinematographic discourse. The case study is sustainable tourism along the Way of St. James (Spain). The material is a corpus of two documentary films. Their moviescapes highlight the presence of a sustainable filmic theorem within a potential cinematic genre—pilgrimage movies. Thus, this study contributes to the investigation of how sustainable pilgrimage tourism practices are used in cinematic production as a possible movie theorem. It presents a conclusive critical evaluation of the role and message of these moviescapes.

This work deals with the ongoing commodification of Lisbon's historic centre under the pressure of mass tourism and transnational real estate investment. It applies a case-study research methodology combining the quantitative analysis of statistical data on relevant socioeconomic indicators with qualitative tools such as direct observation and structured interviews with key stakeholders. In the context of crisis and austerity, and taking into account the Portuguese financial dependency and peripherality within the Eurozone, this work argues that the rent gap triggering the current transformation of Lisbon's historic centre owes much to the global gap between purchasing powers on the internal and the external markets. With the former strangled by austerity policies that have impoverished the Portuguese society, the dramatic rise of housing prices in Lisbon's historic centre is a consequence of the expansion of demand on wealthier external markets, encouraged and guaranteed by an investor-friendly legal framework implemented in the context of the crisis. This policy set includes the new urban lease law, the non-regular resident tax regime, the Golden Visa programme, the special fiscal framework for the local accommodation business, and the tax breaks for real estate funds and refurbishment initiatives. Despite its undisputed success in bringing foreign investment and stimulating the rehabilitation of derelict properties in Lisbon's historic centre, this legal framework has triggered gentrification. Real estate prices are pushed above the financial capacity of most local households, and an enclave-type exploitation of the housing stock emerges in Lisbon's historic centre that jeopardizes the former's access to housing in that territory and in its immediate surroundings. However, grassroots movements and social initiatives advocating affordable housing and the right to the city have emerged in Lisbon.

El Camino de Santiago es hoy en día una ruta turística monumental de éxito internacional. La Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura [UNESCO] ha distinguido con la categoría de Patrimonio Mundial más de 2.500 kilómetros de itinerarios jacobeos en España, por los que cada año transitan más peregrinos, llegados de países vecinos y distantes, sean de mayoría católica o no. Las ocho comunidades autónomas por las que transitan estos Caminos presentan grandes diferencias en la estrategia de ordenación territorial que se deriva de los diferentes documentos aprobados, pasando de la conservación y protección de las sendas históricas en algunos casos a la promoción y posicionamiento del producto turístico en otros. En este artículo se explican los factores principales que explican el éxito del Camino y las estrategias de planificación de las diferentes comunidades autónomas.

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