O Porto retratado por estrangeiros em livros e guias de viagem nas épocas moderna e contemporânea – plano de investigação

Abstract

This paper aims to present a research plan concerning the books and travel guides that portrayed, during the modern and contemporary era, the city of Porto from the outsiders' point of view. The research problem arises from the lack of studies on the History of Tourism, both in Portugal and, more specifically, in Porto. As far as the general objectives of the broader research we are undertaking are concerned, they are the following: (a) to determine the evolution of the tourist image formulated by foreigners in travel guides and books of the early and late modern eras; (b) to know the evolution of the tourism system (transportation, accommodation, restaurants and eating houses, entertainment) in Porto in the modern era; (c) try to recognize the evolution of the tourist organization of the destination "Porto" in its concatenation with the evolution of the tourist organization of the destination "Portugal" in the contemporary era; (d) recognize typologies of traveller that can emanate from the guidebooks; (e) recognize the evolution of propaganda and its conversion into marketing of the destination "Porto". Travel narratives can be written by tourists, scientists, artists, etc. An historian, José Amado Mendes, states that the quality of these manuals is proportional to the aptitude of the travellers who write them, but it also depends on the perspective through which they scrutinize reality. Regarding the use of primary sources, in addition to the guides, it is expected that periodicals and documents issued by the tourism organization authorities will be analysed.