‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the ways in which the rural and rurality are represented through the national tourism promotional campaigns in Portugal since the 80s. The background for this debate is the transformation of many rural areas from productive spaces to consumable places, with tourism playing a paramount role in these rural restructuring processes. In promotional materials and campaigns, rural contexts are frequently presented as ‘idyllic’, ‘authentic’ and ‘genuine’ offering a wide range of experiences to the visitor. The empirical evidence produced from the content analysis of 33 posters and 19 promotional videos issued between 1986 and 2012 by the national tourism body, reveals a significant change from a representation of the rural as ‘old’, ‘static’, ‘unchanged’ and ‘untouched’ to its current representation as ‘young’, ‘active’, ‘enthusiastic’, ‘emotional’ and ‘experiential’, much more oriented (since the middle of the 90’s) to the commodification and consumption of the countryside.

Full text

‘No country for old people’
Representations of the rural
in the Portuguese tourism promotional
campaigns
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto,
Diogo Soares da Silva y Catarina Capela
University of Aveiro, Portugal
DOI: 10.4422/ager.2014.03
Páginas: 1-26
ager
Revista de Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural
Journal of Depopulation and Rural Development Studies

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Abstract: This paper aims to discuss the ways in which the rural and rurality are represented
through the national tourism promotional campaigns in Portugal since the 80s. The background for this
debate is the transformation of many rural areas from productive spaces to consumable places, with tou-
rism playing a paramount role in these rural restructuring processes. In promotional materials and cam-
paigns, rural contexts are frequently presented as ‘idyllic’, ‘authentic’ and ‘genuine’ offering a wide range of
experiences to the visitor. The empirical evidence produced from the content analysis of 33 posters and 19
promotional videos issued between 1986 and 2012 by the national tourism body, reveals a significant
change from a representation of the rural as ‘old’, ‘static’, ‘unchanged’ and ‘untouched’ to its current repre-
sentation as ‘young’, ‘active’, ‘enthusiastic’, ‘emotional’ and ‘experiential’, much more oriented (since the
middle of the 90’s) to the commodification and consumption of the countryside.
Keywords: Content analysis, reconfiguration processes, rural areas, rurality, tourism promotional
materials.
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Resumen: Este trabajo tiene como objetivo discutir las formas en que la población rural y la rura-
lidad se representan a través de las campañas de promoción del turismo nacional en Portugal desde los años
80. El trasfondo de este debate es la transformación de muchas zonas rurales de espacios productivos en
lugares de consumo, con el turismo desempeñando un papel de suma importancia en estos procesos de
reestructuración rural. En los materiales de promoción y campañas, los contextos rurales se presentan con
frecuencia como idílicos, auténticos y genuinos, ofreciendo una amplia gama de experiencias para el visi-
tante. La evidencia empírica generada a partir del análisis del contenido de 33 carteles y 19 vídeos promo-
cionales realizados entre 1986 y 2012 por el organismo nacional de turismo, revela un cambio significativo
respecto a la representación de la población rural como vieja, estática, inmutable e intacta a su representa-
ción actual como joven, activa, entusiasta, sensible y experimental, mucho más orientada (a partir de media-
dos de la década de los 90) a la mercantilización y el consumo del campo.
Palabras clave: Análisis de contenido; procesos de reconfiguración, áreas rurales, ruralidad, mate-
riales de promoción turística.
Recibido: 26 de noviembre de 2013
Devuelto para revisión: 26 de marzo de 2014
Aceptado: 27 de mayo de 2014
Elisabete Figueiredo. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences. GOV-
COPP – Research Unit in Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, University of
Aveiro, Portugal. elisa@ua.pt
Cândido Pinto. Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering,
University of Aveiro, Portugal. candidomanuel@ua.pt,
Diogo Soares da Silva. Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences,
University of Aveiro, Portugal. diogo.silva@ua.pt
Catarina Capela. Department of Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering,
University of Aveiro, Portugal. catarinacapela@ua.pt

3
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela
Introduction1
Like in many other European countries, rural areas in Portugal have undergone
significant transformations over the course of recent decades as a consequence of
increasingly global socioeconomic dynamics of change. Even if the consequences of
these processes of change that have taken place in rural areas may vary, according to
countries and regions, one of its most visible sign has been the loss of the monopoly
enjoyed by agricultural activities. This loss gave place to a rural no longer seen as a
productive space but increasingly portrayed as a consumption and consumable place
in which leisure and tourism activities assume a paramount role.
Tourism and related activities are, to a great extent, the main driving forces of
rural reconfiguration processes, both in material and in symbolic terms. A central
aspect of the way rural areas have been consumed is the touristic promotion of rural-
ity and of the countryside, which is often based in ‘global’ images and symbols, rather
than in local features, apparently inducing an idealization of the rural. The rurality
1• This paper was elaborated within the 3 years research project (started June 2012): Rural Matters –
meanings of the rural in Portugal: between social representations, consumptions and development
strategies (PTDC/CS-GEO/117967/2010), funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and
Technology (FCT) and co-funded by COMPETE, QREN and FEDER.

promoted mainly refers to a post-productive rural space in which the environment,
landscapes, activities, ways of life and the inhabitants turn into objects of apprecia-
tion and are, therefore, constituted as amenities and commodities. Rural contexts are
often represented as ‘idyllic’, ‘authentic’ and ‘genuine’ places, offering many opportu-
nities for performing multiple activities and to live different experiences.
Based on the content analysis of the Portuguese tourism promotional cam-
paigns (conducted at the national level) (33 posters and 19 videos from the period
between 1986 and 2012) portraying rural contexts, we intend to reveal the main fea-
tures used to present and promote these territories, as well as to discuss the main
transformations in the images conveyed. The empirical evidence shows a significant
change in the way the rural has been presented and promoted during the last three
decades, passing from a representation of these areas as ‘old’, ‘static’, ‘unchanged’ and
‘untouched’ (until the middle of the 90’s) to its representation as ‘young’, ‘active’,
‘experiential’, ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘emotional’, much more oriented to external con-
sumptions than to local features and populations. This difference is in accordance
with the main political and policy (both European and national) guidelines and repre-
sents, to a certain extent, the turn from ‘the old rural’ to the ‘new rural’, therefore also
representing the direction of many of the current rural reconfiguration processes.
Rural reconfiguration processes in Portugal
and the role of tourism
During the last decades, rural areas in Portugal (like in many other regions of
Europe) underwent major transformations (e.g. Oliveira Baptista, 1993, 1996, 2006,
2011; Rolo, 1996; Figueiredo, 2003, 2011), mainly due to the deruralization processes
of the country (Barreto, 2000). These processes were mainly driven by the changes,
both in economic and social terms, of agricultural activities, resulting in their loss of
relevance in many remote rural areas of the country, process that has been intensified
by the Portuguese accession to the European Union (EU), in 1986 (Oliveira Baptista,
1993, 2006; Figueiredo, 2003, 2008). Particularly from that date, Portuguese rural
areas were increasingly detached from agriculture, mainly as a consequence of the
implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and of the main EU policy
orientations for remote rural areas. In fact, in 1988 the European Commission recog-
4
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

nized the multifunctional character of many rural regions of Europe and the ‘vital’
functions, besides food production, for society as a whole that those regions may play
(E.C., 1988).
Among the new functions of rural territories, environmental protection (e.g.
Ferrão, 2000; Figueiredo, 2003, 2008), tourism and leisure development (e.g. Potter &
Burney, 2002; Figueiredo, 2003; Bell, 2006; Halfacree, 2006; Figueiredo & Raschi,
2012), as well as tradition and memories preservation (e.g. Bell, 2006; López-i-Gelats
et al., 2009), stand out. These new functions seem to have induced new processes of
change and to give a powerful contribution to the restructuring and reconfiguration,
both in symbolic and material terms, of rural areas which are increasingly being trans-
formed and represented from places of production to spaces for consumption (e.g.
Figueiredo, 2003; Halfacree, 2006). Many rural areas of Europe, and in Portugal, are
nowadays “beyond agriculture” (e.g. Marsden, 1995, 1998; Oliveira Baptista, 2006)
more produced than productive (e.g. Covas, 2011; Figueiredo, 2011). They are part of
the ‘new rural’, a non-agricultural (or a less agricultural) world which tends to be
reconstructed, as previously mentioned, around its “re-naturalisation” and environ-
mental preservation, its “authenticity” and its “commodification” (Ferrão, 2000: 48). As
referred by Woods (2003: 284), for the European context, as agriculture declines, the
future of rural economies seems increasingly to be dependent upon the commodifi-
cation of the rural, as well as on “the exploitation of its visual and spiritual con-
sumption through tourism”. This commodification of the rural is based on the growing
demands on the countryside, mostly by urban populations, in search for a cleaner
environment and for a wide range of recreational activities and experiences. The com-
modification of the rural is based on its increasing perception as a ‘global amenity’
(McCarthy, 2008) which in turn, as discussed in the following section, seems to be
anchored in the promotion of a relatively standardized and massified image of the
countryside, based on very similar symbols and images (Figueiredo & Raschi, 2012).
In consequence of these changes, many Portuguese rural areas, particularly
remote ones, are nowadays seen, both in social and in institutional terms, as post-
agricultural and consumption-oriented spaces. These areas may be qualified as low
density places, inhabited by aged, retired and with low levels of literacy populations.
Precisely due to their remoteness and backwardness which configure processes of per-
manence of certain rural and rurality features (traditions, cultural heritages, typical
architecture features, landscape maintenance, etc.) that urban populations increas-
ingly value, these areas are nowadays at the centre stage in terms of leisure and
tourism activities.
5
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

The new demands and consumptions of rural areas and of rurality are based on
very positive social representations of the countryside. This is often represented as
more ‘genuine’ and ‘authentic’ than the urban contexts, in a rather idyllic manner (e.g.
Halfacree, 1993, 1995, 2006; Phillips et al., 2001; Bell, 2006), in which ‘green’, ‘pleas-
ant’, ‘safe’, ‘healthy’, ‘clean’ and ‘enjoyable’ are central elements (Perkins, 2006). In the
construction of these images, although they may derive from a variety of sources and
means (e.g. Figueiredo and Raschi, 2012; Figueiredo, 2013), tourism plays a significant
role (e.g. Watson & Kopachevsky, 1994; Macnaghten & Urry, 1998; Perkins, 2006). At
the same time, tourism related activities contribute to form new (rural) commodities
and recreation and tourism opportunities and experiences (Perkins, 2006), reinforcing
what Halfacree (2007: 138) called “the power of consuming idylls”. This power is fos-
tered by advertising and promotional campaigns and by the “communicational imag-
ination” (Covas, 2011: 60), once again based in the images of ‘authenticity’, of a closer
relationship between men and nature (perceived as pure and unchanged), of the
maintenance of the memories of the past that urban dwellers can ‘observe’, ‘enjoy’
and ‘experience’ in ‘quiet’ rural contexts. As Butler and Hall (1998) refer rurality is
largely a social construction, a myth, more related to urban desires and aspirations
that to the rural reality. These processes tend to romanticize rurality, rural features,
and its ways of life (e.g. Figueiredo, 2001) configuring their patrimonialization and
touristification (Figueiredo & Raschi, 2012).
Representations of the rural
in promotional materials
In the context of rural tourism, the destination product is the rural scenery, which
includes natural landscapes, old churches, local architecture, arts & crafts stores,
museums and patrimony, along with festivals, events and unique local flavours. However,
due to its intangibility, a destination cannot be subject to a trial period or exhibited at a
point of purchase. The exposure of a destination to potential tourists is almost entirely
dependent on its representations and descriptions (Beldona & Cai, 2006). Therefore, the
creation of the image of a destination constitutes a challenge to promoters (as studied
by Gunn, 1988), in terms of the type of agents, materials and means used (Phelps, 1986;
Mansfeld, 1992; Gartner, 1993; Molina & Esteban, 2006; Choy, Lehto, & Morrisson, 2007).
6
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

All the types of agents, materials and means used to promote and to form the
image of a destination, also contribute to influence the destination choice by tourists,
as abundantly studied in the last few years (e.g. Woodside & Lysonski, 1989; Um &
Crompton, 1990; Woodside, Crouch, Mazanec, Opperman, & Sakai, 2000; Sirakaya &
Woodside, 2005; Molina & Esteban, 2006; Perkins, 2006). However, little research has
been conducted until now on the impacts of these promotional materials and means on
the reconfiguration processes of a particular destination (e.g. Figueiredo and Raschi,
2012; Figueiredo, 2013). Although the majority of these materials are based on local
characteristics, they are frequently designed to be more attractive and assertive, mobi-
lizing tourists’ feelings and knowledge to form a destination image and, consequently,
possessing little relation with the materiality of a given destination in the tourists’
minds. This tends to transform rural territories in a sort of urban playgrounds
(Figueiredo, 2013) and seems to point out the emergence of a rurality no longer rural,
but increasingly urban in its conception and even in its material expressions.
Place promotion is described by Ward and Gold (1994) as “the conscious use of
publicity and marketing to communicate selective images of specific geographic local-
ities or areas to a target audience”. Promoters attribute meanings, values, experiences
and identities to a place and sell them through advertising. It can be argued that a
tourist landscape is both a cultural and symbolic landscape; it is idealized, immaterial
and built upon representations. It can be organic (art, film, literature, personal stories,
television) or induced (e.g. through advertising) (Goss, 1993; Park & Coppack, 1994; Lash
& Urry, 1994). In countries with a majority of the population living in cities, the coun-
tryside tends to represent a special place, a different time, symbolically distant from
daily routine. This distance enhances the differences (either real or imagined) between
the city and the countryside, and imagination inspires and sustains the construction of
the myth of the place (Shields, 1991; Urry, 1995).
Aiming to attract tourists, the tourism industry promotes and emphasizes the dif-
ferences between the rural and the urban, using images that exalt myths about rurality
(e.g. Bell, 2006; Perkins, 2006; Figueiredo and Raschi, 2012; Figueiredo, 2013). The use of
metaphors, frequently ‘global’ (i.e. with no specific connection to a given area) in pro-
motional materials allows the potential tourists to have a sense of acquaintance with a
destination by transforming something unknown into something familiar (Dann, 1996).
The use of ‘strategic’ keywords, images and symbols do help to create this sense of famil-
iarity with a destination, as well as a certain atmosphere of enthusiasm, with the objec-
tive of corresponding to the needs and demands of tourists looking for an escape from
everyday life. Thus, keywords as ‘evasion’, ‘escape’, ‘dream’, ‘discover’, ‘imagination’ or
‘pleasure’ are oftentimes found among the discourses used to promote destinations,
7
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

along with words like ‘true’, ‘authentic’, ‘original’ or ‘real’. These last symbols are fre-
quently used when presenting a rural destination, as, among others, the works of Butler
and Hall (1998), Meethan (2001), Bell (2006), Crouch (2006), Perkins (2006), Figueiredo
and Raschi (2012) and Figueiredo (2013) demonstrate. Particularly relevant here is the
fact that the majority of promotional materials contribute to the staging process of the
destinations, using pseudo-events aimed at corresponding to the quest for authenticity.
Along with words and symbols, visual elements are often used in promotional
materials, due to their capability of demonstrating ‘the reality’ (e.g. Morgan & Pritchard,
1998). However, as Jorgensen (2004) refers many pictures used in these materials are
digitally manipulated to meet the perceptions of tourists, therefore representing
another kind of ‘staging’ reality or authenticity. Based on previous studies Dann (1996),
states that the majority of the pictures showcase landscapes and/or cultural aspects of
destinations, especially antique and traditional traits that emphasize a certain type of
culture and way of life. Visual clichés are also used in promotional materials. They relate
with the kind of language employed in the materials, which is often generic, exagger-
ated and characterized with an intensive usage of superlatives and metaphors referring
to the rural paradise and idyll. Frequent visual clichés include sunset, rustic villages with
picturesque streets, and colours like green, blue or white (Dann, 1996).
All these images and symbols describing rural destinations tend to create a vir-
tual (Cloke, 2006) and disconnected from reality (McCarthy, 2008) rural or a kind of
McRural (Figueiredo, 2013), well expressing the staging processes aiming at selling the
rural and its features, as well as the reshaping of rurality in order to be appealing to and
be desired by tourists. In this sense, as the seminal works by MacCannell (1973, 1976)
demonstrate, a new real reality might be designed, therefore authenticity becoming not
authentic but staged. As Hillman (2007: 3) expresses a significant aspect in this debate
is the extent to which “any tourist attraction or participation can be deemed authentic
once it is assembled and offered” as a commodity. As Figueiredo and Raschi (2012: 21)
ask, based on Pearce (2007), “does authenticity still matter after being commodified?”
Tourism promotion in Portugal – a brief portrait
A consistent policy for tourism first appears in Portugal in the 80s, with the
development of a National Tourism Programme (Programa Nacional de Turismo). After
8
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

Portugal’s accession to the EU and the foundation of the National Tourism Office
(Instituto de Promoção Turística – IPT), it was tried to create a generic brand for the
country, lately developed by the Portuguese Institute of External Commerce (Instituto de
Comércio Externo Português – ICEP). Along with a logo created in 1993 (figure 1), espe-
cially emphasising the sun and the sea, the strategy involved a textual message
(“Portugal, when the Atlantic meets Europe”, “Portugal, quando o Atlântico encontra a
Europa”), revealing a clean and sunny green country, proud of its history, of easy access,
with a friendly, welcoming people and a great variety of possible activities from which
to choose. It was also created a manual for the production of brochures, containing
guidelines for their design. Those brochures were meant to be produced within three
levels: national (by the ICEP, responsible for the main promotional regions), regional and
local levels (by the regional and local tourism agencies respectively, both responsible for
the promotion of specific products like religious, cultural and nautical tourism, business
and exhibition tourism and rural tourism. In the same period, and in order to promote
internal tourism, an advertising campaign was produced called “Vá para fora cá dentro”
(“Go out inside”), aimed at the promotion of short vacation periods inside the country.
In this campaign, besides the types of tourism mentioned above, the country is pro-
moted mainly as a destination for sun and sea and sports and golf tourism.
Figure 1.
Logo of the Tourism of Portugal, created in 1993
by the artist José de Guimarães
9
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela
Source: Tourism of Portugal2
2• http://www.turismodeportugal.pt

In 1997, the ICEP, the Council of Tourism Marketing, the agency Roland Berger
& Partner and other partners reformed some promotional strategies and constituted
five priority products (sun and sea, city break, touring, golf and business tourism) and
other secondary products (health, religious and active tourism). The domestic promo-
tional strategy suggests more specific trip destinations, as the 1998 internal promo-
tional campaign “Escapadinha de 3 dias: a melhor forma de fugir à rotina”
(“Three-day getaway: the best way to escape from the routine”) shows. Other
national campaigns were created during the last 20 years, such as: “Um mundo para
descobrir” (“A world to be discovered”, between 2005 and 2006); “Descubra um
Portugal maior” (“Discover a larger Portugal”, 2009) and more recently “Descubra
Portugal, um país que vale por mil” (“Discover Portugal, a country worth a thousand
countries”, 2010/2011), all aiming at promoting internal tourism.
At the international level, since the already mentioned “Portugal, when the
Atlantic meets Europe” campaign, between 1994 and 1998, the country has been pro-
moted as offering enthusiastic feelings and experiences – “Portugal, the thrill of discov-
ery”. In 1999 the thrill was replaced by the choice in the campaign “Portugal, the choice”
and between 2000 and 2002 nature emerges as a central element in the campaign
“Warm by nature”. In 2003 the campaign “Take a break” aimed at representing Portugal
as a safe country and, in 2004, the campaign “The extra time is always the best part of
the game” focused on the European football championship, which took place in the
country. From 2005 to 2007, the promotion emphasised the ‘experience’ – “Portugal. Live
deeper” (2005), “Portugal. Deeper experience” (2006) and “To be continued...” (2007). The
strategic position of Portugal as the west coast of Europe was emphasised in 2008 and
2009, through the campaigns “Europe’s West Coast” and “Energy from Europe’s West
Coast”, the last one stressing the relevance of Portugal as a sustainable destination,
given its role in the production of renewable energies (mainly solar and wind). In
2010/2011 the campaigns promote a country that preserves its authenticity and a sim-
ple way of life – “Portugal, the beauty of simplicity”. In the majority of these campaigns,
both internally and externally oriented, rural features were present, mainly after the
middle of the nineties, together with the more global markers of the country: sun and
sea, expressing the relevance of its relatively ‘well preserved’ rurality. The fact that there
is a greater emphasis on rural matters after the mid-90s is related with a major invest-
ment (both financial and institutional) on rural tourism, following the European Union
guidelines for rural areas and rural tourism.
10
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

Methodology
As mentioned before, the empirical evidence presented in this paper derives
from a Portuguese research project – Rural Matters – in which several types of docu-
ments, besides the posters and videos analysed here, were subject to examination3.
The period considered in the analysis was the period from 1985 to 2011, taking into
account the country’s accession to the European Union (in 1986). In this paper we
analyse, using the content analysis technique, 33 posters and 19 videos used in
national tourism promotional campaigns that conveyed rural tourism destinations. All
materials were issued by the Portuguese National Tourism Office. All the videos and
the majority of the posters (25) correspond to the period between 1995 and 2011 and
to the internal and external campaigns mentioned in the previous section4. Prior to
1995, 8 posters were collected and analysed corresponding to the first internal pro-
motional campaign mentioned, i.e., “Go out inside”.This unbalance between the two
periods considered is related to the unavailability of a large part of the materials prior
to 1995. Not all the materials issued in these time periods by the Portuguese National
Tourism Office were analysed in the context of this paper; we only analysed those
made available to us, both online and in the National Tourism Office archives.
The content analysis performed to these and the other materials analysed
within the Rural Matters project, was based on a comprehensive literature review in
order to identify the significant concepts associated with the main representations,
images and symbols conveyed on rural territories, rurality and rural development
strategies. The main concepts identified were, therefore, Rural, Environment, Rurality,
Countryside, Rural Landscape, Rural Tourism and Rural Development. All these con-
cepts were operationalized in variables (categories) and indicators (values) in a sys-
tematic and detailed manner. In the analysis of the posters and videos only the
11
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela
3• Namely, the Governments’ Programs; the rural development policies and strategies, cinema, news
collected from two national newspapers, promotional materials from rural tourism bodies and net-
works, as well as programs and financial incentives oriented towards rural tourism.
4• Particularly, to the “Three-day getaway: the best way to escape from the routine”; “A world to be
discovered”; “Discover a larger Portugal”; “Discover Portugal, a country worth a thousand countries”
and “Portugal, the beauty of simplicity” campaigns.

concept of Rural Tourism, as well as the corresponding categories and values were
used. As the materials analysed here combine moving and still images and text, two
coding frames were built. Table 1 displays the coding frame regarding images and
table 2 the coding frame concerning text. The content of the documents was analysed
through the use of the software NVivo 10.
Table 1.
Coding Frame used to analyze images
of the promotional materials
Variables/Categories Values
Nature and landscape Elements that describe the landscape and the
natural aspects in the image, e.g.: rivers and lakes, river
beaches, mountains, fields.
Gastronomy Elements related with gastronomy, e.g.: local products, wine.
Heritage and culture Elements related with heritage and culture. Different
monuments and decades, e.g.: museums, churches, pillories.
Tourist products Tourist products promoted, e.g.: handicraft.
Architecture Elements related with architecture of rural areas.
Rural tourism Different types of construction materials and architecture
(Images of the Rural
) standards, e.g.: schist houses, narrow streets, institutional
buildings.
Inhabitants Images with inhabitants from rural areas, e.g.: old, young,
more people, less people.
Infrastructures Infrastructures in rural areas to support the tourist activities,
e.g.: living room, garden, pool.
Tourist activities Tourist activities proposed in the images, e.g.: outdoor
activities, folk festivals, leisure activities.
Feelings and behaviours
Images that transmit feelings and/or behaviours of
tourists in rural areas, e.g.: friendship, amusement,
contemplation.
Formal aspects Formal aspects of images, e.g.: ahead, at the bottom,
information, relation with text and image.
Source and property: Rural Matters project
12
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

Table 2.
Coding Frame used to analyze the written parts
of the on the promotional materials
Variables/Categories Values
Agrotourism Words used to describe agrotourism activities, e.g.:
hospitality, agricultural activities.
Low density tourism Characterization of landscape elements located in low
density tourism areas, e.g.: clean natural environments,
landscape qualities, villages.
Tourism in rural Words used to describe landscape elements in tourism in
tourism spaces rural areas, e.g.: familiar character, natural heritage,
traditions, local architecture.
Rural tourism impacts Texts with references about the impacts of rural tourism,
e.g.: contributes to sustainable development, conservation.
Tourist activities Tourist activities practiced in rural spaces, e.g.: events,
outdoor activities.
Innovation Texts with references related to innovation in rural spaces,
in rural spaces e.g.: new technologies.
Entrepreneurship Texts with references related to entrepreneurship in rural
in rural spaces spaces, e.g.: new products, new companies.
Rural tourism Networks Texts with references related to networks in rural spaces,
(Discourses
in rural spaces e.g.: collaborative partnerships, cooperation, synergies.
of the Rural
) Management Texts with references related to the management of rural
of rural spaces spaces, e.g.: development strategy.
Marketing Texts with references to the marketing of rural spaces, e.g.:
of rural spaces promotion, brands.
Policies Texts with references related to policies for rural tourism,
for rural tourism e.g.: programs, PAC, Natura 2000
Internationalization of
Texts with references related to internationalization
tourism in rural spaces of tourism in rural spaces, e.g.: international fairs.
Growth and Texts with references related to growth and development
development of rural spaces, e.g.: economic development,
of rural spaces infrastructures.
Cultural tourism Texts with references related to cultural and natural
in rural spaces heritage, and rural lifestyle, e.g.: museums, historical
villages, gastronomy and wine.
Ecotourism Texts with references related to ecotourism, e.g.: geoparks,
contact with nature, environmental responsibility.
Health and Texts with references related to health and wellness
Wellness tourism tourism, e.g.: spas, vinotherapy.
Direct investment on Texts with references related to direct investment on
countryside capital countryside capital, e.g.: “developing a mountain biking
trail in an area of woodland”, “habitat restoration”.
13
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

Indirect investment Texts with references related to indirect investment
on countryside capital on countryside capital, e.g.: environmental accreditation,
conservation funds.
Destination image Texts with references related to destination image and
and identity - identity’s functional attributes, e.g.: accommodation,
functional attributes activities, services.
Destination image and Texts with references related to destination image and
identity - non- identity’s non-functional attributes, e.g.: peace, magic,
functional attributes interesting, memorable, unique.
Source and property: Rural Matters project
‘No country for old people’ – representations
of the rural in the Portuguese
tourism promotional campaigns
In order to assess the ways in which the rural and rurality are represented and
promoted through the campaigns designed by the national tourism bodies, and as
explained in the previous section, 33 posters and 19 videos, all were analysed.
Regarding the most frequent categories in posters and videos, table 3 shows that the
most referenced ones are “Nature and Landscape” and “Architecture” (figure 2).
However, while the third category with the biggest number of references on posters
is “Patrimony and Culture”, in videos the third place is occupied by the category
“Infrastructure” (figure 3). Images exposed in videos tend to give more relevance to
the tourists’ well-being, showing modern and sophisticated amenities capable of
meeting all the tourists’ demands. Regarding the discourses conveyed in the videos,
the most referenced categories were “Non-functional attributes of the image and
identity of a rural destination”5, “Marketing of Rural Spaces” and “Evaluation of
tourism destination”, reflecting a clear intention to stimulate the demand for each
touristic region of the country.
14
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns
5• ‘Functional attributes’ are related to the material aspects of rural tourism, such as accessibilities and
infrastructures. On the other hand, ‘non-functional attributes’ are associated with immaterial fea-
tures of rural tourism like ‘beautiful’, ‘ancient’ and ‘exciting’.

It is worthwhile to notice that the most referenced categories display a rural
not much associated with agriculture or other rural economic activities, fact that, at
the same time, expresses the relative neglect of the rural as a living space (e.g.
Figueiredo, 2003, 2013) and reinforces the findings of Ferrão (2000) and Figueiredo
(2003) on the re-naturalization of rural areas, aiming at responding to the new con-
sumption needs and to fulfil the demands and desires of the urban tourist. In addi-
tion, ‘outsiders/non local people’ is one of the most referred notion within the
majority of the categories analysed, precisely demonstrating the concern with the
tourist and the visitor.
Table 3.
Categories with the largest amount of references, both in images
and discourses in the promotional materials, by period
Images Discourses
Variable/ Posters Videos Videos Variable/
Category Images period period period period Category Discourses
1986-1995 1995-2012 1995-2012 1995-2012
Nature and Landscape 33 139 249 28 Non-functional attributes of
the image and identity of a
rural destination
Formal Aspects 722 17 21 Marketing of rural areas
Architecture 15 16 26 10 Evaluation of tourism destination
Heritage and Culture 4 14 21 6 Cultural tourism in rural areas
Inhabitants 2 5 6 6 Tourism in Rural Areas
Infrastructures 0022 4 Ecotourism
Tourism Activities 0 3 16 4 Planning travel
Tourism Products 0 4 5 3 Tourism Activities
Feelings and Behaviors 1 0 17 1 Motivation of visitors
Gastronomy 0 0 8 1 Tourism Health and Wellness
Source and property: Rural Matters project
15
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

Figure 2.
Images of Nature and Landscape and Architecture in posters
(1995-2012)
16
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns
6• http://www.visitportugal.com
Figure 3.
Rural tourism infrastructure in videos (1995-2012)
Source: Tourism of Portugal/ Portugal Official Tourism website6
As the figures presented above illustrate, elements from nature (rivers, flowers,
fields, trees) and from traditional architectural features (types of houses, construction
materials) from different regions of the country are actively used in the promotion of
the countryside in the national tourism campaigns. These images also convey an
ancient, although well preserved rural, while simultaneously appealing to a rural that
is capable to offer sophisticated facilities and comforts to tourists, providing exciting,
unique, authentic and deeper experiences.
The most frequent symbols and words used in the promotional campaigns to
describe rural contexts, both in posters and in videos are displayed on the tag clouds
presented in figures 4 and 5 and in table 4. As showed, the most frequent symbols
used in posters are ‘village’, ‘houses’, ‘blue’, ‘green’, ‘field’, ‘church’ and ‘vegetation’.

Figure 4.
Tag Cloud featuring the most frequent symbols used
on promotional posters
17
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela
Source and property: Rural Matters project
Those findings corroborate the analysis of the categories presented above, there-
fore emphasising a rural that is marked by nature and also by typical villages and archi-
tectural and patrimonial elements. Almost the same can be said about the symbols used
in the promotional videos, in which, apart the word ‘Portugal’ which is constituted as a
kind of general brand, the more frequent symbols used are ‘villages’, ‘landscape’, ‘water’,
‘mountains’ and ‘vegetation’. This calls our attention to the fact that in videos the focus
seems to be, to some extent, on natural elements and features.
Figure 5.
Tag Cloud featuring the most frequent symbols used
on promotional videos.
Source and property: Rural Matters project

As shown in table 4, once again there are no significant differences regarding
the two periods considered, concerning the symbols and words used to describe rural
contexts, although ‘green’, ‘vegetation’, ‘field’, ‘trees’ and ‘landscape’ are more used
after 1995 in the posters and in the videos7, reinforcing the conclusions presented
before, namely the increasing identification between rural and nature. Before 1995,
despite the limitations in terms of the materials analysed, it seems that the emphasis
was mainly on tradition and on the rustic character of the villages.
Table 4.
Ten most coded words on promotional materials’ images
and discourses, by period
Images Discourses
Posters Videos Videos
words 1986- words 1986- words 1995- words 1995- words 1995-
2012 1995 2012 2012 2012
villages 40 houses 21 village 27 village 32 Portugal 38
houses 35 village 13 green 22 landscape 24 country 19
green 28 schist 9 blue 20 mountains 23 Nature 13
blue 27 blue 7vegetation 18 vegetation 23 Promotion 13
church 20 rustic 7 field 16 water 23 valley 13
vegetation 19 churches 6 houses 14 houses 22 holidays 9
field 17 green 6 church 14 schist 19 Discover 8
trees 17 landscape 5 trees 13 Azores 16 brand 7
landscape 15 white 4 white 10 fields 16 land 7
white 14 house 4 landscape 10 green 15 landscape 6
Source and property: Rural Matters project
When analysing the values associated with each category (table 5), it is clear
once again that the most referenced ones are those related to the category “Nature
and Landscape”, followed by “Architecture”. On the posters, the most referenced val-
18
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns
7• Although the videos analysed referred only to the period after 1995.

ues are ‘villages’, ‘green’, ‘fields’ and ‘churches’, while on the videos the most frequent
values mentioned are ‘mountains’, ‘villages’ and ‘villas’.
Regarding the two periods considered in the analysis, it is visible that while
before 1995 most values are identified with the category ‘Architecture’, and after
1995 the category ‘Nature and Landscape’ emerges as the most relevant.
Table 5.
Ten most referenced values on promotional materials’ images
and discourses, by period
Images Discourses
Posters Videos Videos
values 1986- 1986- 1995- values 1995- values 1995-
2012 1995 2012 2012 2012
villages 40 13 27 mountains 38 promotion 13
green 30 8 22 villages 32 historic 13
blue 27 720 villas 26 landscape 8
fields 26 3 23 fields 23 brands 8
churches 23 6 17 sea 20 experience 7
mountains 16 5 11 valleys 19 know and discover 6
white 14 4 10 green 17 diversification 4
villas 13 6 7 water 17 attractions 4
trees 13 4 9 sun 16 beautiful 3
rustic houses 10 7 3 rivers and lakes 16 villages and towns 3
Source and property: Rural Matters project
The temporal variation of values in the most referenced categories on posters
can be seen on table 6. The category ‘Heritage and Culture’ is more featured in the
period ranging from 1995 to 2012, being “’churches’ its most referenced value. The
category ‘Architecture’ saw a decline, comparing with the former period, in the
number of references of its values, especially regarding ‘rustic houses’, ‘schist
houses’ and ‘granite houses’; at the same time, the values ‘recreated rural scenes’,
‘construction materials’, ‘typical details’ and ‘manor houses’ saw an increase in their
19
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

number of references. In the category ‘Nature and Landscape’, besides ‘outsiders’,
the frequency of all the other values rose in the second period, especially the
colours ‘brown’, ‘white’ and ‘yellow’.
Table 6.
Most referenced values (on posters) for the three most codified
categories, by period
Posters
Variable / Category Images values period 1986-1995 period 1995-2012
Nature and Landscape brown 3 6
white 4 10
yellow 2 4
farm animals 0 3
windmills 0 3
outsiders 2 1
Heritage and Culturetiles 02
castles and fortresses 0 1
cruzeiro (calvary) 0 2
fountains 0 1
churches 6 14
bridges 0 2
utensils 1 1
Architecture recreated rural scenes 0 1
construction materials 2 3
typical details 02
narrow streets 2 2
villas 67
granite houses 2 1
schist houses 31
rustic houses 7 3
manor houses 01
Source and property: Rural Matters project
20
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

From this analysis we can one more time emphasise the fact that in the period
1995-2012 the category ‘Nature and Landscape’ raises above all the other categories,
which tend to be less expressive over time. The posters displayed on figure 6 reinforce
the representation of the rural, prior to 1995, as an aged and archaic place, where the
traditional agriculture and ancient, humble and typical buildings were dominant.
These posters also convey old people, involved in agricultural activities or immobile,
looking at the world passing by from their windows. Comparing these posters with the
ones from the more recent campaigns (figure 7) it is visible the greater emphasis on
the rural represented mainly as natural, with the green and the blue emerging as the
main colours of the landscape and with the water, from rivers, lagoons or waterfalls
as the dominant element. People represented in these posters are no longer the inhab-
itants, but the ‘outsiders’, the ones living the truly, peaceful and beautiful experience
of the countryside.
The images and discourses conveyed by the videos after 1995 (figure 8) cor-
roborate this representation of the rural as more oriented to the emotions and
experiences of the ‘outsider’, appealing to a rural able to offer diverse outdoor
activities and, definitely to a ‘younger’ and more ‘active’ rural, although preserving
the charm of the old countryside. This is again expressed by the opportunities to
observe the sunset and by the immersion in the green and vast landscapes (e.g.
Figueiredo & Raschi, 2012) and aims to show to tourists a more natural and pre-
served rural, breaking away from their past as areas shaped by abandonment and
neglect.
Figure 6.
Representations of rural areas on posters (1986-1995)
21
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela
Source: Tourism of Portugal/ Portugal Official Tourism website

Figure 7.
Representations of rural areas on posters (1995-2012)
22
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns
Source: Tourism of Portugal/ Portugal Official Tourism website
Figure 8.
Representations of rural areas on promotional videos,
period 1995-2012
Source: Tourism of Portugal/ Portugal Official Tourism website
The analysis of the values of the most referenced categories among promotional
videos shows that the most coded values are related to the colours of the Portuguese
rural landscape (‘golden’, ‘green’, ‘blue’ ‘brown’, ‘white’, ‘yellow’8) as well as to the coun-
try’s natural elements and environmental features (‘wildlife’, ‘river beaches’), and to the
facilities available to fulfil the tourists or the ‘outsiders’ needs and desires (‘accommo-
dation’, ‘restaurants’, ‘gardens’, swimming pools’, ‘golf courses’). In the discourses con-
8• Despite being a small country in terms of its total surface, Portugal possesses a large diversity in
terms of landscapes and use of building materials. While in the northern and central part of the
country, the landscape is dominated by small and green fields, by mountains and granite and schist
villages, in the south there is a predominance of large brown fields (the dominant culture is the
wheat), dotted by the yellow from sunflowers and by the white from the houses scattered along the
plains. In the islands of Madeira and Azores the blue colour from the sea combines with the green
from the fields and with the rough shadows of the mountains.

veyed by the promotional videos the ‘diversity’ and the ‘attractions’ of rural Portugal,
together with its description as ‘unique’, ‘young’, ‘beautiful’, ‘untouched’ and ‘memo-
rable’ stand out, as the following texts from the campaigns illustrate:
“A country full of contrasts that has diversity as one of its greatest assets.”
(“Portugal, a world to discover” campaign, 2008)
“A thousand wishes, a thousand stares, fixed on colours that are renewed
every day, recreated in words that come to life with each new dash. A thousand
emotions that spring from a piece of land, a thousand stories multiplied by seve-
ral voices, memories of a land that pulsates to the rhythm of its peoples’ dreams.”
(“Discover Portugal, a country worth a thousand countries” campaign, 2010)
“Spend your holidays in Portugal, discover a larger Portugal.”
(“Discover a larger Portugal” campaign, 2009)
“Portugal’s worth for the endless coastline and its blessed historical villages.”
(“Discover Portugal, a country worth a thousand countries” campaign, 2012)
Based on these findings, it is possible to outline a paradigm shift in the way
Portuguese rural areas and rurality are being promoted: from an old, inhabited by sim-
ple people, static and relatively unchanged context (prior to 1995) to a young, active,
natural, attractive, exciting and experiential territory (from 1995 onwards). It also
becomes evident that the discourses and images are based in metaphors and symbols
with a great degree of ‘globality’, which intend to make tourists familiar with the
‘rural Portugal’ destination, corresponding to their needs for an alternative to daily
routine (Dann, 1996) and, simultaneously, commodifying Portuguese rurality and rural
elements, in accordance with what Butler and Hall (1998), Bell (2006), Crouch (2006),
Perkins (2006; Figueiredo and Raschi (2012) and Figueiredo (2013) demonstrated for
other countries and regions of Europe.
Conclusion
This paper intended to present and to debate the ways in which rural areas and
rurality are being represented through the national tourism promotional campaigns in
23
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

Portugal since the middle of the 80s. The debate was anchored in the processes of
change and reconfiguration many rural areas of Europe and Portugal underwent in the
last decades, stressing the shift from a productive to a consumable and produced rural,
mainly due to the major transformations agricultural activity experienced in the same
period (e.g. Oliveira Baptista, 1993, 1996, 2006, 2011; Rolo, 1996; Figueiredo, 2003, 2011;
Halfacree, 2006; Covas, 2011). As discussed in the first section of the paper, tourism
activities may be considered as the main driving forces of the rural reconfiguration
processes (e.g. Watson & Kopachevsky, 1994; Macnaghten & Urry, 1998; Bell, 2006;
Crouch, 2006; Perkins, 2006; McCarthy, 2008; Figueiredo, 2011, 2013; Figueiredo &
Raschi, 2012), largely contributing to the patrimonialization and commodification of
the countryside.
Touristic promotion contributes at the same time, as seen in the second section,
to the destination image formation and to shape rural contexts, namely through the use
of specific – and often rather ‘global’ (e.g. Bell, 2006; McCarthy, 2008; Figueiredo and
Raschi, 2012; Figueiredo, 2013) – symbols of rurality. In recent years, accompanying the
transformations of many rural territories, tourism promotion mainly represents and
conveys a post-productivist rural in which the environment, natural elements, land-
scape, economic and social activities, traditional architecture, ways of life and local
inhabitants turn into amenities, providing multiple and exciting experiences to tourists
and visitors. As previously seen, rural contexts are often presented as ‘idyllic’ and
‘authentic’ places where the tourists can feel a taste of the real thing, of the artefacts
and memories of the past while enjoying the facilities and the sophistication of the
present time. In the Portuguese campaigns, as briefly outlined in the third section, rural
areas play a relevant role as part of the country’s image and brand.
Based on the content analysis of 33 posters and 19 videos issued between 1986
and 2012, by the national tourism office, the empirical evidence reveals the relevance
of promotional agents, means and materials in expressing a certain type of rurality.
These means and materials are actively used to create an image of the Portuguese
countryside, showing what national tourism agents consider to be interesting for
tourists to see and experience. The tourists’ landscape is often described as a cultural,
symbolic, idealized and immaterial landscape, built upon representations (e.g. Goss,
1993; Park & Coppack, 1994; Lash & Urry, 1994) to which the promotional materials
also aim to respond.
The results of the analysis of the promotional materials highlight a prevalence of
the category ‘Nature and Landscape’ with its images allusive to villages, mountains and
the colour ‘green’, which is associated with natural landscapes. In the period 1995-2012
this category tends to override the aspects related to other categories, like ‘Architecture’.
24
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

In the first period (1986-1995) images exposed on promotional materials tended to
focus on the typical architecture of old villages, showing humble, simple ‘rustic houses’
made out of schist or granite, almost frozen in time, with some signs of decay due to
the rural exodus. Nowadays, images tend to focus more on manor houses, ‘villas’ and
recreated rural sceneries in which the water, the blue and again the green are almost
always represented.
A paradigm shift on the representations of rural areas in promotional materials
seems to have occurred between the two periods compared in this analysis; the mate-
rials from the period 1995-2012 tend to convey a rural that is distanced from the poor
agricultural lifestyle it was once associated with (Ferrão, 2000), hinting to a more nat-
ural and preserved environment through images that showcase nature as intact
(Figueiredo, 2011). This is a tendency that has been verified since the eighties, also influ-
enced by EU orientations and policies, in which rural areas tend to not be associated to
its agricultural character (Covas, 2011) and start to be seen as multifunctional, combin-
ing agriculture and forest activities with other functions like nature and landscape
preservation and tourism and leisure (Figueiredo, 2003, 2013), therefore especially ori-
ented to consumption.
The materials analysed portray a rural that is increasingly commodified and
transformed into an amenity, a rural ever more associated with new consumption pat-
terns related to leisure, sports and local heritage. This is expressed, in the examined
posters, by the amount of references in the category ‘Infrastructures’ and the increase
in the number of references in the category ‘Heritage and Culture’, as well as by the vast
range of activities presented. There is a visible concern about exposing places’ historical
heritage and patrimony – and how well preserved its physical manifestations are – so
symbols often associated with rurality, like old churches or ceramic tiles (azulejos) are
clearly commodified (Ferrão, 2000) and take a relevant part in the touristic experience
of the country. Furthermore, by highlighting new accommodation units and the variety
of services and activities offered by those (e.g. gardens, swimming pools, golf courses,
restaurants) frequently presented in a rather sophisticated and modern way, national
tourism promoters aim at meeting tourists new demands and presenting a new way of
experiencing Portuguese rural areas.
The images exposed on promotional videos, besides focusing on the colours
‘green’, ‘white’, ‘blue’ and ‘brown’, emphasize the presence of ‘outsiders’ and outdoor
recreational activities, at the same time allowing the tourist to feel welcomed and to
foresee exciting experiences in the countryside. Rural areas tend to be represented as
diverse spaces completely different from the urban places, but designed for urban
tourists to escape daily routines. The images appeal to feelings and experiences on a
25
Elisabete Figueiredo, Cândido Pinto, Diogo Soares da Silva and Catarina Capela

rural able to offer a diverse and adapted-to-the-outsider-needs range of activities and
emotions. The rural conveyed by the videos (and also by the posters after 1995) is
‘young’ and ‘active’, even though maintaining the uniqueness of the ‘old’ countryside. Is
equally a rural immersed in nature and in green, as Figueiredo and Raschi (2012) also
demonstrate for Italy. In the analysis of those materials, local dwellers and their utili-
tarian, traditional lifestyles are left out, depreciating the socioeconomic, cultural and
environmental aspects of rural areas and their inhabitants. Therefore, after 1995, the
rural that is being promoted in Portugal is not a rural for old people and their activities
and lifestyles.
As mentioned in the previous section, the posters issued before 1995 clearly con-
vey a rural represented as an aged, old, almost archaic space, marked by traditional agri-
culture and antique, humble and typical houses. These posters also emphasise the
presence of old people, static or involved in traditional activities. After 1995, both the
posters and the videos analysed evidence a rural which is natural, active, and oriented
to the (often young) ‘outsiders’ desires and needs. All in all, national tourism promo-
tional campaigns seem to have undergone a shift from the representation of the rural
as ancient and unchanged to a countryside that is presented no longer as the place for
old people, but is rather the context for new people, activities and experiences. A rural
that is no longer rural (despite the features of rurality it encompasses) but increasingly
urban in its conception, promotion and experience.
Acknowledgements
The research that supports this paper was conducted within the research proj-
ect: Rural Matters – meanings of the rural in Portugal: between social representa-
tions, consumptions and development strategies (PTDC/CS-GEO/117967/2010),
funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and co-
funded by COMPETE, QREN and FEDER. We are grateful to Turismo de Portugal office
for the availability of the materials used in this paper. We are also grateful to the
anonymous reviewers of Ager for their comments and suggestions on the paper, as
well as to the editors of the journal.
26
‘No country for old people’. Representations of the rural in the Portuguese tourism promotional campaigns

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