Sustainable Destination Development Based on Gamification and Storytelling: Empowering the Douro Region Through Wine and Gastronomy

The world of the vineyard is a world of stories. Just as we taste the wine, the gastronomy, and the landscape, we taste stories and each story, each one with its plot has its personalities, with which we identify, surprise, or learn. Peso da Régua and the Douro Region are a narrative that can be told through the game. One of the most innovative and interesting ways to transform the phases of a trip into unforgettable life experiences is through gamification. In an additional perspective to gamification, the theme of storytelling emerges. Destination storytelling is seen as a strategy to enhance the reputation of regions, the way in which municipalities and cultural organizations understand storytelling can have a significant impact on the success of a region. This research has as its main goal to analyze how gamification associated with storytelling can promote and enhance the tourism supply in a particular region, in this case, the city of Peso da Régua. A qualitative methodology was applied, through semi-structured interviews with representatives of four wine-producing farms, the representative of the Douro Museum, and the grandson of João de Araújo Correia, a well-known personality in Peso da Régua. The results are intended to be an important contribution to the valuation of the tourism resources of the region, determinant in an international promotion process, highlighting that gamification associated with storytelling can be a key element to involve the player, telling the story, and promoting the destination.