The landscape we choose: the new video of Rota Vicentina

Rota Vicentina Association is turning 10 on June 5, 2023, and it’s like the coolest coincidence ever that it’s also World Environment Day! To celebrate this day, we will finally present the new promotional video: “The landscape we chose.”

It all started in 2021 when the need arose to take a step forward in the communication of Rota Vicentina (RV). In line with a growing approach to the community of this territory, we wanted to explore an important perspective of the community’s relationship with the tourism that RV represents. The first exercise was to look at the history of produced videos, specifically the 2 “promotional” ones that marked the Rota Vicentina® brand.

The more you walk the more you feel alive

The first steps were taken in 2012 with “Two Steps to Freedom”, a narrative of a classic hiker who walks through the region and discovers its charms. It was a highly acclaimed video, praised for its innovative nature (at a time when promoting hiking destinations was not very appealing) and for breaking a barrier that is almost taboo in advertising, which is the theme of authenticity. The use of volunteer actors and extras from the community, footage that truly captured the essence of the region, an aesthetic focused on the perspective of the hiker – all of these elements showcased a strong commitment to truth, which is at the core of Rota Vicentina and something we take great pride in.

Look out for me, take care of me, breathe in my peace […] everything is growing, except nature, nature isn’t growing.

In 2018, we released the video “Fall in love with this land” in a challenge to find what unites us, residents and visitors, Portuguese and foreigners. We quickly found love for this land as a common denominator, one in which we want to invest, connect, and expand. A care for the future, the idea that we want to view an increasing flow of people as something constructive, conscious, and coordinated in favor of the common good, a balanced and welcoming territory where everyone plays their part in contributing to that balance.

“It is our choices that define the landscape that surrounds us.” “The tourist comes to see the landscape, and what is the landscape? The landscape is agriculture! […] Eating is a political act. […] The hand that sows is the hand of harvest, a hand that respects, hands!”

The production of a third video was carefully considered, and we understood that the desire to contribute positively to the balance of the territory is not always enough; it is necessary to know how. With land planning seen as one of the main challenges in Southwest Portugal, we wanted to invite everyone to look at the landscape we appreciate so much with greater awareness. Who guarantees it? Who produces it? Who plants and nurtures it? Who consumes and supports it financially? The local and circular economy is seen as an essential dimension of this equation, and tourism can and should have an increasingly visible role.

With this new production, which we named “The landscape we choose”, the Rota Vicentina Association embraces its communication strategy based on awareness-raising content that inspires solutions and encourages a joint and progressive reflection on the role of tourism in territories as attractive as they are fragile. We aim to highlight the people who shape a territory and make it what it is – all of us together – when we assume our roles, which often need to be presented to us clearly and inspiringly.