centro de portugal
Welcome to the largest and most diversified national Region!
It is with heart and soul that Turismo Centro de Portugal receives the ART&TUR festival in Torres
Vedras, after last year hosting it in Leiria. Hosting a festival with the quality and prestige of ART&TUR
means a lot to the Centro de Portugal.
This festival represents a very strong asset for the region, for its ability to bring the name and brand
Centro de Portugal to distant markets. Being part of the international circuit of tourism film festivals
brings ART&TUR to a level of global prominence - as evidenced by the heterogeneity of the judges, who
come from 15 countries and 4 continents. It is undeniably an event of great relevance in the promotion
of destinations and tourism products, thus being an asset for the positioning and enhancement of
the Centro de Portugal.
At the same time, ART&TUR is a golden opportunity for the Centro de Portugal to show the world
the extraordinary conditions it has for capturing international film and audiovisual productions. An
important opportunity at a time when audiovisual tourism is becoming an increasingly powerful tool
for tourism promotion. Attracted by the scenery they see on the screen, visitors of film or television
series locations are increasing in number, which helps to create new tourist impulses, such as those
intended to be printed in the Centro de Portugal region.
The Centro de Portugal is the largest region in the country, with 31.3% of the national territory, covering
100 municipalities and 8 Intermunicipal Communities (Aveiro Region; Coimbra Region; Leiria Region;
Viseu Dão/Lafões; Beiras and Serra da Estrela ; Beira Baixa; Oeste; and Médio Tejo). Diversity is the
matrix of a region where all visitors always discover something new that makes them want to return.
Combining pure nature with vibrant life in its cities, the Centro de Portugal territory includes parks
and nature reserves, protected landscapes, four UNESCO World Heritage sites (Alcobaça Monastery,
Batalha Monastery, Convent of Christ and University of Coimbra, Alta and Sofia), important destinations
for religious tourism, historical, schist and mountain villages, as well as castles, monasteries and
convents, where you can breathe the history of this country. In addition, there is a vast intangible
heritage, such as fine wines and gastronomic recipes that are lost in time, as well as the ancient
traditions of ethnography of a whole people, revisited in lively feasts, fairs and pilgrimages.
The Regional Tourism Entity of Centro de Portugal (TCP) is the organization responsible for structuring
and promoting the Centro de Portugal region as a tourist destination of excellence. Among its
competences is the enhancement and development of the potentialities of the tourist destination of
Centro de Portugal and its sub regions, assuming the role of facilitating the tourism activity. In this
way, TCP leads and coordinates the tourism development action program in the region, in accordance
with the strategy defined at national and regional level, in collaboration with the public and private
partners of the destination.
Although it operates in particular in the national market, it is TCP’s goal to be recognized nationally
and internationally for excellence in innovation, differentiation and creativity of actions and projects
developed, making the excellence of products and tourist destinations that can
be found in the region reach even further. Centro de Portugal - a region that is
experiencing intense demand growth.
There is always something new to discover in the Centro de Portugal: a country within
a country!
Pedro Machado
President of Turismo Centro de Portugal