Resumen:
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Parques de Sintra - Monte da Lua, SA (PSML hereafter) is an entirely state owned company set up in 2000 subsequent to UNESCO classifying the Cultural Landscape of Sintra as World Heritage in 1995 and bringing together those institutions with responsibilities in this field as shareholders. The PSML public heritage management model is unique in Portugal. In 2014, the heritage sites received over 1.9 million visits and generating some €18.3 million in revenues and ranking the company as among the three most important cultural tourism poles in the country. The PSML mission involves restoring, maintaining, promoting and opening up the heritage managed for the public good. To ensure the maintenance and functioning of this heritage, the company draws exclusively on the revenues generated by site entrance tickets, by the cafeterias, the stores and by renting out such sites for events. For its investment projects, the company draws on its own income and whenever possible also seeks support from national and European subsidy programs. The Palace of Pena is the most visited monument in the Sintra Cultural Landscape having received around 900,000 visitors in 2014. We now present the PSML management model, applied across its different facets, and particularly in relation to the National Palace of Pena, explaining its economic sustainability, the relationships with visitors and the strategy deployed in the approach to heritage restoration and conservation intervention projects. This correspondingly focuses on aspects such as the “open for works” method, the projects implemented and the future perspectives as well as the “virtuous cycle” vision driving the model’s success: heritage restored and open to public enjoyment, greater and deeper visitor satisfaction, higher revenues, higher investment.
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