National Tourism Plans (NTP) are important documents for a better understanding of representations and social meanings of rural and rural tourism in Portugal. This paper, aiming to discuss these issues, is based on the detailed content analysis of the NTP over the last 30 years, namely, the NTP for the periods 1985-1988 and 1989-1992 and the National Strategic Plan for Tourism for the periods of 2007-2010 and 2011-2015. The content analysis performed was supported by a comprehensive analysis grid containing multiple categories (and corresponding values) identified based on the review of national and international literature on the rural world, its representations and meanings, as well as on rural tourism and policies and strategies implemented in the European Union (EU) and implemented in Portugal. The choice of this time period has referred to the date of the first NTP (1985) and Portugal's entry in the European Economic Community (EEC) (1986). Based on the content analysis, we identified the main definitions, characteristics and products of Rural Tourism (RT) associated with each of the NTP, allowing to group a set of images and representations of rural and RT.
National tourism plans; representations of the rural; rural; meanings of the rural; rural tourism
