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This study aims to assess the online presence of three Portuguese low-density territories and analyze the communication strategies employed by public and private entities within each municipality. The alignment between public and private entities within each municipality is also examined as a potential factor that could impact the effectiveness of digital communication strategies.

A qualitative methodology that employed content analysis and interviews to gather data from selected public and private entities in each of the municipalities under study was used.

Despite the widespread availability of digital communication tools, the municipalities under study are yet to fully exploit their potential to promote and publicize their offerings. This could be attributed to several factors such as a lack of knowledge and/or resources and a defective strategic approach to digital communication.

The major obstacle in maximizing the potential of digital communication tools in low-density destinations was not solely a result of restricted access. Rather, it was largely due to insufficient knowledge and resources required for their effective utilization, coupled with a lack of aligned vision among various stakeholders.

The competitive landscape in which tourist actors operate has transformed significantly because of the widespread adoption of digital communication led by social networks. However, studies exploring digital communication in low-density territories are still scarce. This study adds new insights into the main factors that hinder the efficient use of digital communication in these regions.

The evolution of tourism must be framed into policies that aim a development model perspective for the destinations, based on the analysis of economic, political, and social indicators. Therefore, emerging destinations, located in territories with low population density, should be a target of a careful strategy policy, considering the characteristics of the region. In particular, the disaster caused by the pandemic context (i.e., COVID-19) implied profound changes in tourism thinking, planning, and development of regions in Portugal and throughout the world. The present chapter proposes the creation of a tourism monitoring system for Arouca (Portugal), a territory classified as Low-Density Territory, with specific characteristics. The monitoring will involve the planning and management of database, at the disposal of all stakeholders, ensuring that the tourism flows in analysis do not get overwhelmed, allowing the discussion of opportunities and threats for the territory, based on the partnership between the population, public and private sector, adjusted to the social, cultural, economic, and environment perception. Will also be considered the perspective of the local community from Arouca's region, the main actors from the territory such as Geopark Association of Arouca and the City Council, according to the surveys used as data basis of this study, along with statistics analysis.

This study aims to understand how legislation and technology can enhance socio-economic development in low-density population territories, focusing specifically on the dynamics of local tourist accommodation over the past decade.

A case study was conducted for five municipalities in one of the most significant tourism regions of Portugal – the Algarve – based on a systematic investigation of relevant laws, regulations and electronic platforms. Official statistics were compiled and analyzed for the five territories’ registered local accommodation services, population, overnight stays and additional local services.

The results reveal that public entities’ regulations favor micro-entrepreneurship initiatives in local accommodation and that digital tools supported by online platforms have quite visible effects on low-density territories. The findings also reveal that the local tourist accommodation supply has experienced an especially dynamic, sustained growth over the past decade. This expansion has been accompanied by an increased supply of other services, suggesting that accommodation can positively influence the existing and/or future socio-economic development of low-density territories.

Further studies focusing on other areas with low-density populations are needed to determine more clearly how local accommodation influences socio-economic development.

Public regulations supported by digital platforms that favor micro-entrepreneurship initiatives in local accommodation can strengthen local development.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyze how local tourist accommodation can foster socio-economic development in low-density territories.

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of neo-rural entrepreneurs in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem and in the sustainability of the local economy, especially in low-density territories.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, human capital theory, network theory, and the triple helix model are the theoretical underpinnings of this study. The study has a qualitative, multiple-case methodological approach using semi-structured interviews. The collected reports were submitted for content analysis with the help of the computer application for qualitative data analysis NVivo, version 11.0.

As main results, the following were found: the conviction that entrepreneurship is a vector of territorial development, the existence of elements of attractiveness to entrepreneurial activity in each territory of the study, the existence of obstacles to entrepreneurship, but also a set of institutional support coming from municipalities and polytechnic institutes and, finally, the type of entrepreneurship therefrom preponderant of necessity.

The study contributes to the extent that it completes gaps in the literature by focussing its analysis on a specific type of entrepreneurship: neo-rural and micro-sized entrepreneurship. It also offers contributions to local government to think of mechanisms that can attract more neo-rural entrepreneurs.

The aim of this study is, from the perspective of artisan entrepreneurship, to trace and analyse the artisan's profile in the sustainable development of low population density cross-border territories, using the quintuple helix innovation model.

Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with cultural and traditional artisans to achieve the proposed objective using a qualitative approach. The artisans are from Northeast Portugal (Bragança, Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro, Vimioso and Vinhais) and Northern Spain (Province of Zamora). The interviews were conducted face-to-face between May and June 2022. The interviews were manually transcribed and subjected to content and lexical analyses using IRaMuTeQ software.

An artisan was identified as an enterprising individual whose marketed handicraft pieces transmit the values and teachings of his community. Innovation, technology, sustainability and circular economy in a family environment, where dedication, resilience, happiness and hard work transmit an identity that places the artisan and his artisan practice as the driving force for the enhancement and promotion of his territory, cultural heritage and identity.

This work is the first study to address and treat the issue of artisan entrepreneurship by analysing and defining the cultural-based and traditional artisan profile in a cross-border and low population density territorial context.

The purpose of this study is, from the perspective of artisan entrepreneurship (AE), to understand how professional and higher education institutions, local authorities, local and cross-border cultural entities and tourism stakeholders perceive AE by collaborating in a network to develop innovative and sustainable strategies, using the Quintuple Helix innovation model.

Using a qualitative approach, 34 semi-structured interviews were carried out with organisations by emailing them a Google Form. The organisations interviewed were from the north-east of Portugal (Bragança, Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro, Vimioso and Vinhais) and the north of Spain (Zamora Province). The data collected was subjected to content and lexical analysis using the computerised lexical analysis software IRaMuTeQ.

AE is seen as the representation of a culture where traditional crafts are the identity of a region. The practical and political implications for decision makers in the Quintuple Helix can be seen in the definition of strategies and proposals that should leverage and define regional and cross-border policies, leveraging the need for networking to define concrete measures and programmes for support and training in entrepreneurship and AE, as well as the creation and/or standardisation of existing support networks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first study to address and deal with the issue of AE by understanding how professional and higher education institutions, local authorities, local and cross-border cultural entities perceive AE and collaborate in a network to develop innovative and sustainable strategies, through the paradigm of the Quintuple Helix model. It also combines a content analysis and a lexical analysis using computerised lexical analysis software – IRaMuTeQ.

Wicked problems require collaborative innovation approaches. Understanding the problem from the users' perspective is essential. Based on a complex and ill-defined case, the purpose of the current paper is to identify some critical success factors in defining the “right problem” to be addressed.

An empirical research study was carried out in a low-density municipality (case study). Extensive data were collected from official databases, individual semi-structured interviews and a focus group involving citizens, local authorities, civil servants and other relevant stakeholders.

As defined by the central government, the problem to be addressed by the research team was to identify which justice services should be made available locally to a small- and low-density community. The problem was initially formulated using top-down reasoning. In-depth contact with citizens and key local players revealed that the lack of justice services was not “the issue” for that community. Mobility constraints and the shortage of economic opportunities had a considerable impact on the lack of demand for justice services. By using a bottom-up perspective, it was possible to reframe the problem to be addressed and suggest a new concept to be tested at later stages.

The approach followed called attention to the importance of listening to citizens and local organisations with a profound knowledge of the territory to effectively identify and circumscribe a local problem in the justice field.

The paper highlights the limitations of traditional rational problem-solving approaches and contributes to expanding the voice-of-the-customer principle showing how it can lead to a substantially new definition of the problem to be addressed.

This study sought to fill a gap in the literature by examining the dynamics of neo-rural small entrepreneurs’ business activities as little research has been done on these individuals. The research was conducted in three of Portugal’s low density territories (i.e. Miranda do Douro, Penamacor and Aljezur), focusing on understanding these outsider entrepreneurs’ main motivations and challenges after they decide to leave the city to settle in rural areas and become small business owners.

Data were collected in semi-structured interviews with 26 neo-rural entrepreneurs. The multiple-case study method was applied to assess the differences and similarities between the interviewees and their respective contexts. NVivo 11.0 software was used to conduct content analysis.

The results reveal that rural environments appear to attract these new entrepreneurs for various reasons, such as taking advantage of business opportunities, searching for a better quality of life and responding to family needs. The multiple motives contributing to the need for change and entrepreneurship fit well within social cognitive theory. However, these individuals subsequently experience difficulties related mainly to a lack of infrastructure, little preexisting knowledge, a need for financial capital and the absence of the right workforce.

The findings on the experiences, difficulties and challenges of neo-rural entrepreneurs constitute new contributions because few existing studies have concentrated on migration and/or immigration entrepreneurship in rural contexts. The results can serve as a starting point for other similar studies.

This chapter pinpoints a chronological and thematic literature review on the concept of Creative Tourism. Even if the concept emerged 21 years ago, its definition keeps being discussed, and different approaches are available. Born in the late 1990s, it developed rapidly due to a very open, flexible and local context design, enabling the development of personal capacity, authentic experiences and involving local culture and communities. This new approach to tourism envisages bringing together local people, their habits and practices in real and everyday contexts to the heart of the tourism experience provided to visitors. Therefore, it looks to be a promising path towards sustainability. Keeping this in mind, one can wonder if Creative Tourism can be a lever for territories' economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability. In particular, can Creative Tourism's growing importance in Southern Europe be considered a major contribution to the sustainability of those territories? The literature review concludes that most of the studies on Creative Tourism take positive impacts on territories as a kind of ‘belief’. Such an effect is not granted as a beneficial impact on a communities' well-being; it does not result just from the type of resources explored or from the participation of members of the community on the products/services supplied.

Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in recent years, but the diversification of the tourist offer is still weak and unable to take advantage of existing resources. This paper aims to present genealogy tourism as an alternative urban cultural tourism in Coimbra.

Methodology involved mapping the Jewish culture elements in the city of Coimbra, and a route was outlined and proposed.

Genealogy tourism resources are identified in the historic centre of the city. These alternative spaces need urban rehabilitation and (re)functionalisation, which allowed the authors to rethink tourism in Coimbra. They are the motivation to visit for all urban cultural tourists, especially Israelis/Jews, and provide contact with places where the experiences of ancestors combine with the history and memory of places, with recent discoveries and the elements of Jewish culture in the city.

It is concluded that the quantity, diversity, authenticity and singularity of the heritage resources that bear witness to the Jewish presence in Coimbra are sufficient assets to create a route, to enrich the tourist experience in the city and to include the destination in the Sephardic routes.