“There are 11 thousand people who visited Aljustrel and who added value to the territory and who consumed, ate or slept on our region”, highlighted the coordinator of the Parque Mineiro de Aljustrel (PMA), Marcos Aguiar.

According to the person in charge, the PMA, opened on December 4, 2023, and has received a total of 11 thousand visitors in its first year of activity, the majority of whom were Portuguese (95.10%), but also from Spain, France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

Data collected by the park services also reveal that most tourists' favourite part of the visit was passing through the old mining gallery on Floor 30, redeveloped for this purpose, with all visitors “understanding the hard work of the miners”, he added.

The PMA is a city hall project that made the village's “geological and mining heritage” “accessible to people, through tourism, education, science and culture”, highlighted Marcos Aguiar.

The investment, financed by community funds, included the requalification of mining neighbourhoods, the construction of cycle paths, and the placement of walkways in the ‘Chapéu de Ferro’ area, as well as the creation of the Reception and Interpretation Center.

This is a “reference project in terms of requalification of former mining areas in Portugal” and which “allowed to give new life to environmentally contaminated sites, making them instruments of economic, social and territorial development”, he highlighted.

Alongside this, added Marcos Aguiar, the PMA has helped “to stimulate the hotel industry, restaurants and local artisanal production, already being a very important economic and social asset in Aljustrel”.

In 2025, the PMA will have several initiatives aimed at different audiences, along with tourist visits.