The present study was developed on a theoretical reference, based on empirical evidence, resulting from the consult of innumerable political, economic, social, cultural, national and international developments which have occurred over the past two years following the development of themes and technical and scientific projects intrinsically associated to the "Military Tourism" theme and its authors. Such cases, when integrated in the current national and international conjecture allow us to observe favourable indicators for the accomplishment of a true strategic commitment to the development of relations and conditions which effectively stimulate the connection between, tourism, heritage and culture within the Portuguese speaking territory along with the diaspora.
Research in this domain, attending to the lack of editorial production on the tourism theme associated to the military domain and seeing as there is a deficiency of bibliography of the military component in tourism literature in the organisation of tourism products meaning, therefore, that we must answer, not only, to the need for the conceptualisation of products and networks, but also, the need to generate new knowledge necessary for these operationalisation objectives. Thusly, the knowledge creation process and following experimentation methodologically sustains the considered initiatives, face the defined mapping and characterisation objectives for military resources capable of assuming the status of Military Tourism attractions.
Attending to the actions currently underway, as announced above, which strengthen and allow a methodological conduct singular to the National Military Tourism Charter, this project was set in motion following these phases.
- Between the period of the 16th of September and the 28th of February, corresponding to the first phase of this project designated "Contribution Reception Period", 305 contributions were registered through the online portal at www.turismomilitar.ipt.pt , of which 280 observations were validated. Given the voluntary nature of participation which required formal registration, we consider this a significant sample.
- From the 8th of July to the 18th of August 2014 corresponding to the second phase of this project, all national companies registered on the national registry of Tourist Animation Agents were invited to participate in this study, 15% of companies accepted to contribute by sharing decisive information to understand the operationalisation of Military Tourism in national territory as well as the integration and discussion of new contributions and considerations.
- During the period of December 2013 to November 2015 collective and individual meetings were arranged to discuss hypotheses and obtained results, both from the official partners of the project as well as other entities who showed interest in the theme or demonstrated that the results were relevant to the understanding or validation of a determined component of study.
- Equally, during the same period of December 2013 to November 2015 the scientific commission ant the technical team of the National Military Tourism Charter were present in different national and international forums with presentations relating to the theme as well as publishing information about the Military Tourism Project.
- From September 2014 to November 2015 contributions from official partners of the National Military Tourism Charter were accepted, institutionally substantiating the project and providing different views of the studied object.
As observed, the organisation and connectivity maintained between the chronologically described events assured, in terms of results, the fulfilment of objectives and reinforcement of the planning components shared between partners, namely regarding the agreed deadlines.
