Learning from the past The Saborea project and the rebranding of the madeira destination in the post-pandemic era

Abstract

Since January 2020, a multisectoral hub of Madeiran institutions has been involved in the INTERREG project SABOREA Mac. The main objective of this regional cluster is to put Madeira on the map of food destinations. The timing could not have been worse: a global disaster that severely affects the tourism industry within the framework of an ongoing pandemic, which no one anticipated. There have been no studies focused on this area of activity and on the impact caused by a health crisis of this magnitude that until recently was completely unthinkable. Learning from the past is a way to respond immediately to the urgent need to re-evaluate the original strategy of the SABOREA consortium, delineated in a totally different conjuncture. In this paper, we analyse the path adopted by the organizers of the 5th Centenary of Madeira’s discovery at the end of WW1. Facing the cumulated impact of the conflict and the Spanish flu, they successfully rebranded Madeira, a strategy that continues to shape the perception of the destination by today’s visitors. This case study serves as a starting point for considering to what extent the SABOREA project still fits into the reality of the post-pandemic era.