Speaking at the Buenos Aires Book Fair, where Lisbon is the guest city of honor, Lídia Monteiro said that Portugal continues to grow as a tourist destination, and that last year the country "recovered everything it lost during the pandemic".

Noting that there is an increasing interest in visiting the country based on the lives of national writers or on books that have Portugal as a character, such as some books by José Saramago, such as "Journey to Portugal" or "The Elephant's Journey", Lídia Monteiro stated that tourism is exploring this path.

"In Portugal, we are developing something that has immense potential: literary tourism, that is, visiting the country through the eyes of writers, or inspired by the lives of writers. Developing proposals so that people can visit the country based on literature".

The head of Turismo de Portugal said that there are more than 25 writers' houses, each with a different story, and gave as an example the Fernando Pessoa House, in Lisbon, which not only has "timeless objects" by the poet, but also has a program to learn about the author's life and work.

In this regard, she mentioned that it is "very important for these houses to have a program and an exhibition narrative", as is also the case with the Saramago Foundation, considering that this should be developed throughout the country.

In addition, she stressed how literary tourism "allows tourists to visit various parts of the country, not just the capital, and to develop them".

"Many authors were not born in Lisbon, but in small towns. This allows small businesses to grow around these houses".

As an example, she mentioned Eça de Queirós, who had a house in Baião, in the Douro, where he spent his holidays, and Miguel Torga, who was born and lived in Sabrosa, where there are two spaces: an interpretive center, designed by the architect Souto de Moura, and the reconstruction of the family home.

Lídia Monteiro also said that Turismo de Portugal began offering a literary tourism course for professionals three years ago, an online course that began during the pandemic, and that "there are more and more people interested in taking this course".

"It's sad to say this, but the pandemic was an opportunity for literary tourism. Since we couldn't invite people to visit Portugal, we decided to invite people to read Portugal", she said.

A Brazilian citizen who visited the Portugal pavilion, accompanied by an old book "Journey to Portugal" by Saramago, said that she has been traveling to Portugal for years with that novel as a guide, and added that her goal is to experience and learn about everything that the author describes.

This year, a Portuguese Network of Writers' Houses was created, under the authority of the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries, in partnership with the National Library.

"Considering the growing importance of literary tourism and the need to promote and qualify the existing offer, it is also expected that the Network's activities will be carried out in partnership with Turismo de Portugal, in order to increase the offer and structure of literary routes around the life and work of Portuguese literature authors and, thus, provide a differentiated tourist experience", one can read in the ordinance that created the network, still under the mandate of the previous government.

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