Green with Soul

The "Verde com Alma" project is a pilot initiative developed to structure, upgrade and promote the agritourism and wine tourism offer of the Ave region, adding value to local produce, encouraging networking between operators and integrating digital solutions into the visitor experience. Bringing together dozens of operators and a diverse range of experiences — from nature trails, wine tastings and farm visits to food experiences and cultural events — the project lets visitors tailor their own experience, strengthens cooperation between local operators and helps raise the profile and appeal of the Ave as a sustainable, authentic and distinctive tourism destination.

Ruris was responsible for designing, structuring and implementing this pilot project, delivered in three distinct phases:

• Assessment and structuring of the offer, through an analysis of the existing tourism offer and its development potential, meetings with strategic partners and eight workshops presenting the project, culminating in the selection of the participating operators;
• Capacity building and upskilling of operators, involving the 53 selected operators in training sessions in areas that were strategic to the project. As part of this process, 55 ID Cards were also produced, one for each of the tourism experiences created;
• Development of the tourism offer, through the structuring of an integrated set of wine tourism and agritourism experiences, organised into 14 themed itineraries of varying lengths, designed to suit different visitor profiles.

Delivering the pilot required a strong institutional and operational mobilisation, involving the eight municipalities of the Ave region, 53 participating operators and the creation of 55 tourism experiences. An Advisory Board was also set up as the project's strategic oversight body, bringing together 15 regional and national organisations and reinforcing institutional coordination and a collaborative governance model.

As part of the economic development effort and to promote the commercialisation of the new offer, meetings were held with incoming tour operators with the aim of establishing partnerships and integrating the experiences into tourism sales channels.

Ruris was also responsible for developing the project's communication plan, which included the following actions:

• Development of the project's tourism microsite;
• Preparation of the digital communication plan for the launch and promotion of the "Verde com Alma" pilot, including the definition of the communication strategy and the production of social media content;
• Production of photography and promotional video of the tourism experiences;
• Development of a digital tourism brochure for the project;
• A study on the application of Artificial Intelligence solutions to the tourism promotion of the "Verde com Alma" pilot.