Entrevistas e pesquisas realizadas pelos alunos portugueses sobre o turismo, no âmbito do projeto "I am a tourism embassador of my country".

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I AM THE TOURISM AMBASSADOR OF MY COUNTRY
Tourism is big business. Does the municipality of Guimarães take advantage of this
potential?
In my opinion, taking into account the feedback from our customers, people come to
visit Guimarães and then go to other places to sleep. As a citizen, I think that the
pandemic has changed the routes of tourists, which greatly harmed tourism, not only in
Guimarães but also in Portugal.
The municipality of Guimarães would have to bet on commerce and other visits and
activities, as it only takes advantage of restaurants and local commerce, leading people
to prefer to stay in Braga and Porto, with only Guimarães as a stopover and temporary
visit.
Is this region known for its hospitality?
I think that effectively Guimarães is a hospitable city, it has beautiful charms, good
restaurants, good shops, and a variety of local products such as groceries and regional
products alluding to our land. What fails here is not appealing for tourists to stay more
than one night to help us with the local accommodation with the good hotels we have
and good services that are often not used, thus taking the tourist looking for another
place like the capital of the District, Braga and also Porto.
What are the places tourists look for the most?
This year, and due to the pandemic, the trend is mainland Portugal and islands, Madeira
and Azores (and on top of that they offer the test), Alentejo and Algarve, due to the sun
and good weather. The Portuguese tend to flee from the northern part of Portugal, due
to the temperatures and climate. This year, tourists are curiously asking for Dubai, the
Maldives, it was also a strong trend, and now they are asking us for the Spanish islands,
having the handicap of still having to submit a test to COVID, which is not yet reimbursed.

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How do you advertise your agency?
Our agency has an Instagram page created recently because we are a very old agency
and the strength of our advertising is to work with our older clients, the maps, leaflets
that are constantly being renewed, the (spread the word) and the window of our agency.
How do you assess the success of your marketing campaign?
We don't bet that much on marketing, we don't have Facebook, but we created
Instagram where at least one publication and a promotion are placed every day, whether
for the following weekend or for the expo Dubai that will take place next year and that
despite starting the tour it is already being heavily advertised.
The feedback from our campaigns is frankly positive, we talk a lot with our customers,
through WhatsApp and via email or what we post on the internet and the customer
automatically talks to us. The budget is made and sent to the customer within the next
24 hours, which shows efficiency and turns out to be the easiest marketing.
In a post-pandemic scenario, how do you think travel agencies will work to promote
tourism and make it a necessity again?
We find it easier to buy at an agency again, but I don´t know if the major operators will
bet on large operations that existed, such as trips to Majorca that were daily and that
are now weekly. These flights are now divided by three operators because their offer is
going down and we will have to find operators interested in our travel packages.
And when you want to find a tourist destination that you should pay more attention
to?
First of all, I have to know if the country is open to tourism. Then, what are the
restrictions of the recipient country? We must know the availability of tourist attractions
and how they receive foreigners.
It´s essential to know how many days the tourist will have to be in quarantine and what
legal papers he should take with him. Finally, the tourist must be sure of wanting to go
to that country.

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To have a complete disclosure of our country, tourist agencies should opt for a complete
disclosure about the beautiful sights we have, which can include our gastronomy, our
customs, regional festivals, tourist monuments such as castles, lakes and production of
products regional products such as wine, cork, among others.
How are travel agencies, advertising agencies and animators promoting the country?
- Sites;
- Instagram;
- Facebook;
- Booking;
- Flyers;
- Guides;
- Maps;
How can we promote tourism?
• With good photographs;
• Creating a marketing plan;
• Using digital media;
• Create quality and appealing content.
What should we look out for?
• To the tastes of tourists (profile)
• Interaction with tourists;
• The information provided;
• Available tourist attractions;
• Tourist equipment and services;
• Tourism support infrastructure;
• Customer evaluation and comments.
What attracts tourists the most is the traditional and the closest contact with nature:
- watching the art of baking bread;
- the grape harvest, the treading of grapes and the process of wine production;

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- the fruit harvest in a fruit orchard;
- to watch the milking and the cheese production;
- to follow the shepherd’s path;
- to have a bath in a river and make a picnic in the river´s edge;
This kind of tourism is directed to a length of stay of some nights and its promotion
could be done:
- through social networks;
- through the media;
- through travel agencies that establish a direct contact with tourists.