From Road Infrastructure to Territorial Asset: Route Tourism and Sustainable Development in Portugal’s En2

Tourism can play a significant role in revitalizing low-density territories, yet transforming dispersed territorial assets into a coherent and competitive tourism offer remains a complex challenge. This study examines Portugal’s Estrada Nacional 2 (EN2) as a case of route-based tourism and explores how territorial resources, collaborative governance, and digital/gamified visitor engagement can contribute to sustainable territorial development. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research combines documentary analysis, news articles, and a semi-structured interview with a systematic examination of institutional records produced by Associação de Municípios da Rota da Estrada Nacional 2 (AMREN2), including strategic documents, reports, and promotional materials. The findings indicate that the revalorization of the EN2 has been grounded primarily in the mobilization of existing territorial capital, and AMREN2's intermunicipal coordination, Agent Network certification system, and integrated promotion have helped connect dispersed natural, cultural, and economic assets across 35 municipalities. The EN2 Route Passport further demonstrates how gamification principles can stimulate visitor engagement, territorial exploration, and local economic circulation through a predominantly physical, rather than digital, mechanism. The study also highlights the complementary potential of digital platforms and smart tourism tools to extend the route’s reach and personalize visitor experiences. The findings contribute to the literature by linking territorial tourism development, route governance, and gamification within a single geographically extensive low-density destination. The study’s contribution lies in a set of strategic recommendations involving data-driven visitor management, hybrid physical-digital Passport, strengthened agent-network coverage, seasonal programming, and intermunicipal coordination, offering transferable insights for the sustainable reactivation of underutilized infrastructure.