With the opening of the Ecovia do Mondego, a project that required 1.7 million euros in investment, the towns of Santa Comba Dão, Mortágua, Penacova, and Vila Nova de Poiares are now directly connected. This eco-path, which traces the Mondego River Valley over 40 km, was submitted for consideration under the programme ‘Valorizar’ from Tourismo de Portugal.

“The opening of this facility is important for the growth of our region”, Santa Comba Dão mayor Leonel Gouveia told reporters, pointing out that while the Dão and Vouga eco-tracks were already in place in the north, there was no link to the south. Emílio Torrão, president of CIM Região de Coimbra, focused on the “soft mobility strategy that heavily emphasises eco-paths and cycle paths”.

Pedro Machado, the secretary of state for tourism, emphasised the value of regions cooperating as a network, emphasising that this is especially important to “maximise available financial resources”, as was the case with the Ecovia do Mondego. According to the person in charge, “It will be an amazing route that will be among the most attractive in the country”.

Using the eco-paths and eco-ways that now link the CIM Regions of Viseu Dão Lafões and Coimbra, he continued, it will be feasible to “increasingly structure the tourism product” and remain competitive. As Pedro Machado further explained, “We are investing in soft mobility, in tourism that is closer to the territory and, therefore, more sustainable, and we are investing in capturing new flows”. In his opinion, there are many tourists who are willing “to invest more in the holiday destination if it also contributes to decarbonisation, to a certain reduction in the footprint that all economic activities end up impacting”.