Land cover along hiking trails in a nature tourism destination: the Azores as a case study

Diogo C. Pavão (), João Porteiro, Maria A. Ventura, Lurdes Borges Silva, António Medeiros, Ana Moniz, Mónica Moura, Francisco Moreira and Luís Silva
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Diogo C. Pavão: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores
João Porteiro: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores
Maria A. Ventura: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores
Lurdes Borges Silva: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores
António Medeiros: Universidade dos Açores
Ana Moniz: CEEAplA-Centre of Applied Economic Studies of the Atlantic
Mónica Moura: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores
Francisco Moreira: Universidade do Porto
Luís Silva: CIBIO InBIO Laboratório Associado Universidade dos Açores

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2021, vol. 23, issue 11, No 37, 16504-16528

Abstract: Abstract Tourists have become increasingly interested in certain aspects of their destination, including landscape and biodiversity elements, thereby promoting the development of nature-based tourism. The Azores are considered a sustainable tourism destination, with various natural attractions, including hiking trails. Based on the hypothesis that natural vegetation/forest might have a relevant role as a tourist attraction along trails, we performed a quantitative GIS-based analysis to determine the predominant types of land cover found along hiking trails in the Azores. Different statistical approaches indicated that agriculture/pastureland dominated land cover along most trails and that land cover distribution was correlated with global land cover partitioning in the respective island. A reduced number of trails showed a distinct land cover, intersecting areas of natural vegetation/forest. Therefore, we concluded that land cover across hiking trails in this nature tourism destination was dominated by a humanized landscape, which raises questions regarding the more adequate tourist interpretation strategy to adopt in the Azores.

Keywords: Hiking trails; Land cover; Landscape; Naturalness; Nature-based tourism; Azores (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01356-6

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