Garden Tourism in Madeira: development trajectories and future perspectives

Abstract

The visit to gardens has known a high growth worldwide. In the case of Portugal, the island of Madeira assumes a prominent place. This paper aims to analyze the history of garden tourism on the island of Madeira, particularly the importance of gardens as identifying elements and factors of attraction of the destination, the size of demand in the three main paid gardens on the island and its evolution in the last decade, in addition to the strategies implemented and the constraints that remain. Framed in an integrative theoretical reflection of the themes, for this research statistical data from various sources were analyzed and field work was carried out. The demand for gardens in Madeira has increased, although not with the expressiveness that was once seen; the botanical garden, the Tropical Monte Palace and the Palheiro Ferreiro continue to assume themselves as anchor attractions, but present different trajectories. Despite the results obtained in the last decade, Madeira's garden tourism lacks a strategic and integrative vision of its multiple actors and interests.