Reinforcement of tourism as a structural sector in Évora

Abstract

Being unquestionable the tourist attraction capacity that the city of Évora and, in particular, its historic center has long been exercised, the present study seeks to reflect on how, over the last 30 years, the tourism sector, both as an economic activity and in terms of urban functional structure, has strengthened its weight, relative and absolute, as a structuring sector in the city.
For that purpose, and taking into account, on the one hand, all the heritage and monumental values of the city and, on the other, its recent demographic trends, we carried out an assessment of the occurrence and distribution of urban functions more connected with the tourism sector, from 1985 (before the classification of the Historic Center of Évora a World Heritage Site) to 2014, taking 2012 as interim reference date, since this year marks the clear manifestation in the current situation of economic and financial constraints.
In the end, we seek to highlight some perspectives on what, for the thematic area under review can be expected for its evolution in the coming years.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/0871-1623_34_5