Melgaço a rural destination in growth: New tourist challenges

The rural world has been gaining a new attractiveness, due to the tourist demand of those who live in the big cities and want to escape from the daily stress they are subject to. Although these new tourists aim is to relax in an environment that only the countryside can provide, they simultaneously search for cultural information. This present paper intends to demonstrate that the municipality of Melgaco has exceptional conditions to accommodate all this new tourist wave. As a border county it is extraordinarily rich not only in intangible heritage, anchored in traditions and memories related to smuggling (before the opening of the border within the framework of the EU) but also in tangible and natural heritage. As methodology, a case study is presented where the author, in order to better shape and establish new itineraries, inserted herself in the community, collected testimonies from the local population, representatives of the municipality and stakeholders, explored the council area, consulted the local archives and did an exhaustive bibliographic review. It is concluded that the municipality of Melgaco presents excellent conditions to reach the priority objectives of the Strategic Tourism Plan 2027. In this context, the author understands as justification and relevance of the present research the enhancement of its cultural heritage, its creative tourism reviving its traditions, as well as the gastronomy of this rural area.