Revista Tur smo & Desenvolvimento | n. o 27/28 | 2017 | [ 209 - 213 ] e-ISSN 2182-1453 Air transport and tourism destinations: The case of Oporto Airport and Portugal’s Northern Region Os transportes aéreos e os destinos turísticos: o caso do Aeroporto do Porto e da região Norte de Portugal VÂNIA COSTA * [vcosta@ipca.pt] CLÁUDIA ALMEIDA ** [calmeida@ualg.pt] OSCARINA CONCEIÇÃO *** [oconceicao@ipca.pt] Abstract | This study aims to analyse the relationship between airports and the evolution of inter- national tourism in a peripheral region. Thanks to the liberalization of European airspace and to the emergence in the market of low-cost carriers (low cost carriers - LCC), certain destinations, such as cities with different tourism offers, have experienced a strong growth in tourism flows. In the present study we developed an analysis of several studies that focus their attention in investigating the interconnection of air transport and tourism, mainly the contribution of air transport for the internationalization of tourism. This article focuses a case study of the only international airport in northern Portugal – Oporto Airport. Over the past few years, this airport experienced a large increase in traffic, which led to the development of international tourism in the airport’s area of influence – Greater Oporto and northern Portugal. The growth in Oporto Airport’s traffic emerges as an element of attractiveness in the destination system in the northern region of Portugal and as a dynamic factor in regional development. Keywords | Airport, air transport, international tourism development, regional development, Oporto airport Case study and Hypothesis | Tourism and air transport have a strong reciprocal and symbiotic relationship (Duval, 2013). Air transport is the main mean of transportation worldwide. In 2014, more than half of all tourists traveled to some destination by air (54%), while the rest traveled on surface transport (46%) - whether by road (39%), rail (2%) or water (5%) UNWTO data (2015). Oporto * Doutora em Economia pela Universidade de Vigo. Estudante de Pós-Doutoramento em Turismo na Universidade de Aveiro. Docente na Escola Superior de Gestão do Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave) e Investigadora na Unidade de Investigação Governança, Competitividade e Políticas Públicas (GOVCOOP) no grupo Turismo e Desenvolvimento. ** Doutorada e Pós-Doutorada em Turismo pela Universidade de Aveiro. Docente na Escola Superior de Gestão, Hotelaria e Turismo da Universidade do Algarve. Investigadora no CIEO (Centro de Investigação sobre os Espaços e as Organizações) onde lidera a linha de investigação sobre Acessibilidades, Transportes e Turismo. *** Doutora em Economia pela Universidade do Minho. Docente na Escola Superior de Gestão do Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave. Investigadora no Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território (DINAMIA’CET).