Guidance and Public Information Systems: Diagnosis and Harmonization of Tourist Signage

Abstract

The greater influx of tourists to certain territories raised the need to inform, guide and communicate basic messages, with a universal language, expressed through various analog and digital supports. This proliferation of means has led to a profusion of guidance and public information systems, some of which are regulated (such as the traffic signs system, signaling of routes and paths or the signaling of protected areas) and other unregulated systems (such as the signaling of religious, equestrian, municipal, historical, heritage and cultural routes, etc.).

This article is the result of an ongoing research project, which aims to systematize tourist signage in Portugal, in order to satisfy and induce the potential or real demand for guidance, direction and information of tourists, in a clear and precise way, in addition to transmitting a unique and homogeneous image of the tourist product. Its scope will provide a clear reference framework, which facilitates the implementation of a normalized system by the organizations responsible for the standardization and implementation of tourist signage in Portugal.