Recensão. Drago, Ana e Mortágua, Mariana (2025). Oportunidade ou Maldição. A indústria do turismo em Portugal

Xerardo Pereiro Pérez; Luís Vale

doi:10.25145/j.pasos.2026.24.080

Authors

Xerardo Pereiro Pérez Universidade de Tras-os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6298-5701
Luís Vale Universidade de Coimbra https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6585-4563

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2026.24.080

Keywords:

Tourism economics, Portugal, anti-tourism, critical epistemology of tourism, critique of the critique of tourism

Abstract

This review presents a critique of a recently published book on the political and economic approach to tourism in Portugal. The book is an essay constructed from a political economy perspective, based on an ideological bias that identifies Portugal's investment in tourism as a curse and, consequently, a series of negative effects. Throughout our review, we present the strengths of this book, why it is worth reading, and the epistemological and theoretical reasons and arguments that lead us to distance ourselves from this anti-tourism view. Our text constitutes a critique of the critique of tourism as developed in Portugal.

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Editor & editorial board: profiles
Academic society: PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural
Publisher: Instituto Universitario de Investigación Social y Turismo. Universidad de La Laguna (España) - Instituto Universitario da Maia ISMAI (Portugal)

Author Biographies

Xerardo Pereiro Pérez, Universidade de Tras-os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD)

Xerardo Pereiro (University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro –UTAD, CETRAD – Vila Real – Portugal. Email <xperez@utad.pt> ) holds a European PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia – Spain) and another International PhD in Tourism from the University of La Laguna (Canarias - Spain). He is associated professor with habilitation (tenure) of anthropology (by ISCTE- Lisbon) and cultural tourism in UTAD (Portugal). He conducts research about anthropology of tourism and cultural heritage in CETRAD (Centre for Transdiciplinary Development Studies, https://www.cetrad.utad.pt/) of UTAD. He has done fieldwork research in Asturias and Galicia (Spain), Portugal and Panama –about indigenous guna tourism-. He is the Head of Tourism First Degree Course of UTAD, and was visitor teacher in the universities of Vigo, Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Pablo Olavide (Seville), Salamanca, Panamá, “Universidade Nova de Lisboa”, Costa Rica, UNICAMP (Brazil) and others. He was awarded with 1994 Vicente Risco Award of Social Anthropology and Social Sciences, 2007 FITUR in research tourism and 2011 Sol-Meliá - University of Balears Islands Awards for Tourism Research. Nowadays is doing research on Portuguese Inside Way of Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and about Tourism in the Douro Region. He is member of Editorial Board of International Journal of Tourism and Cultural Heritage – Pasos (http://www.pasosonline.org/en/). ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6298-5701

Luís Vale, Universidade de Coimbra

Luís Vale (Universidade de Coimbra)
Correio eletrónico: valedovale@gmail.com luis.vale@ipiaget.pt luisvale@aeira.org
ORCID: 0000-0002-6585-4563
CIÊNCIAVITAE: 131A-8FD4-12F1
Antropólogo social e cultural (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto), pós-graduação em Estudos Culturais (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto), mestre em Património Cultural (Universidade do Minho, Braga) e doutorando em Antropologia Social e Cultural (Universidade de Coimbra). Professor auxiliar convidado na Escola Superior de Saúde – Instituto Piaget, Vila Nova de Gaia. Investigador-colaborador do Centro de Antropologia da Saúde (CIAS) – Universidade de Coimbra. Membro da RuralReport - Rede de História Rural em Português. Membro da comissão organizadora das Jornadas Culturais de Balsamão (Macedo de Cavaleiros). Especializado em Estudos Rurais, o seu trabalho de campo tem sido em Trás-os-Montes, com particular interesse em questões sobre identidade, memória, religiosidade sagrada e popular, tradição oral, jogos tradicionais e de azar, património imaterial, ruralidades e novas ruralidades.