Enhancing Tourism Through Innovation and Creativity: Exploring the Portuguese Military Tourist Route

Tourism is an industry that can benefit from innovation and creativity, especially in the field of military tourism. Military tourism offers unique and authentic experiences that combine different tourist segments with the memory, identity, and military history of a place. Portugal has a rich military heritage that can be leveraged for the development of its military tourism industry. To address the need for more structured and developed military tourism products, the Portuguese Military Tourism Association (ATMPT) has developed the Military Tourism Route. This project is a set of thematic routes associated with events and periods of national history that promote and disseminate national tourist and cultural services, as well as heritage assets and equipment that integrate, directly or complementarily, the offer of Military Tourism in Portugal. The Military Tourism Route project includes a digital platform that provides a dynamic program of personalized and educational content, with written, photographic, and audio-visual media. The platform aggregates information about different thematic routes, including heritage assets (material or immaterial), activities and events, travel logistics, and various tourist services. Each asset is directed to a page with more information about it. The platform also provides a set of Experiences, a Highlights section, and a Cultural Agenda with activities and events in course. The project also includes a digital magazine that aims to disseminate the vast and diverse military tourism offer existing in the Portuguese territory, contributing to the consolidation of the Portugal destination brand. The Military Tourism Route is a creative and innovative solution that contributes to the consolidation of a developing tourist segment. By leveraging the human process of creativity, this project offers a space to share information and inspire participative dynamics of tourists in planning their visit adjusted to their interests, needs, and restrictions.