Portugal: UNESCO Creative Cities Network

This text deals with the importance of reference management strategies in tourism policy related to Heritage, based on the recommendations that have been carried out in the second half of the 20th century in terms of sustainability. Specifically, this study is focused on the work done by UNESCO in terms of cultural tourism by their programme launched in 2004, Creative Cities Network and its implementation in Portugal.ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) is linked to the UN through UNESCO; both are directly related to Heritage and, therefore, we can define two key pillars in the development of cultural tourism. In this article, it is referred only the UNESCO programme applied to two Portuguese cities. However, it is necessary to know the letters and recommendations promoted by ICOMOS in matters of heritage, sustainability and knowledge, in order to be able to carry out proper heritage and tourism management.The status of the issue raised by UNESCO with regard to direct implementation programmes dealing with heritage and tourism are summarized in two very interesting initiatives. The approach taken in our research shows the path that has led to UNESCO recognising the union of synergies between public institutions and the University, through UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks, and how there is an increasingly growing interest in developing and implementing these studies in which, in the long run, manages the heritage subject to be turned into a “tourism product”.A brief presentation on the Creative Cities programme introduces two examples of initiatives within the sustainable tourism efforts carried out in Portugal through the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, such as Idanha-a-Nova as the Creative City of Music and Obidos as a Creative City of Literature, also both included in the year 2015.The methodology in this paper has consisted of a search in the web for two cities and a discovery of how they relate to the UNESCO programme on the network. Additionally, of a search of the most used web portal in Europe in order to observe the work of heritage management and cultural dynamization that appear on the network, in real time. The initiatives carried out in a city to implement tourism products related to culture and heritage should be supported by a verifiable and truthful information in the digital network. Many of the users of those tourist services and activities used the information of the network to choose their destinations, hence the importance of position in the network.Finally, a concluding summary contains the main lines that we believe to be necessary in the enhancement of the heritage as a generator of tourist products online