Water as a Tourist Resource in Extremadura: Assessment of Its Attraction Capacity and Approximation to the Tourist Profile

José-Manuel Sánchez-Martín, Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero and Juan-Ignacio Rengifo-Gallego
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José-Manuel Sánchez-Martín: Faculty of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain
Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero: Faculty of Economics, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Juan-Ignacio Rengifo-Gallego: Faculty of Letters, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-26

Abstract: In inland areas water is an important resource for attracting tourists as is the case in Extremadura. For this reason this research aims to determine its attraction capacity for travelers from other parts of Spain. In 2017, 13,848 surveys were carried out in the tourist offices of the region, from which 3403 were selected from those practicing tourism related to water. This has allowed us to find out the type of tourist who visits the area and his/her origin. By means of a geographical information system, a network analysis was applied to determine the attraction capacity of certain infrastructures. This result confirms that the most frequently visited areas coincide with the presence of natural swimming pools, although reservoirs do not act as centers of attraction for tourists although they do for visitors. At the same time, it was found that tourists practicing activities related to water resources come from neighboring areas but their attraction capacity extends to distant areas which coincide with areas that were the destination for regional emigration. Moreover, we advocate the need for establishing tourist policies involving greater tourist exploitation of reservoirs and the deseasonalization of tourism in the northern area, where most areas prepared for bathing are to be found.

Keywords: tourism of inland waters; attraction capacity; geographical information systems; network analysis; tourist mobility; inland areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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