A Tourism Potential Index for Cultural Heritage Management through the Ecosystem Services Approach

Gema Ramírez-Guerrero, Javier García-Onetti, Manuel Arcila-Garrido and Juan Adolfo Chica-Ruiz
Additional contact information
Gema Ramírez-Guerrero: Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain
Javier García-Onetti: Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain
Manuel Arcila-Garrido: Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain
Juan Adolfo Chica-Ruiz: Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, University of Cadiz, 11002 Cádiz, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-21

Abstract: Tourism as a tool for the enhancement and conservation of heritage represents an opportunity for many managers of cultural properties. However, despite the numerous works developed so far on tourism governance, the elaboration of preliminary studies for decision-making in heritage buildings is still a challenge. Considering the ecosystem services approach, an index is proposed which allows tourism and cultural heritage managers to analyze and quantify the level of tourist exploitation (use) of a monument for the services (benefits) that it offers to society. In this paper, a multi-criteria evaluation system was proposed, related to the main use of the building and its relationship with various tourism components, which have been classified as cultural, leisure, recreational, lodging, catering, intermediation, transportation, and event organization. The model has been applied to the Parroquia del Mar (Alicante, Spain) of great cultural relevance, but not exploited for tourism. The results obtained demonstrate the usefulness and validity of the model, considered as a tool capable of bridging the gap between heritage conservation and its touristic use, highlighting the importance of the services offered as necessary attributes for its (re)valuation, combining the social benefits of its exploitation, its touristic use and the awareness of its conservation and protection.

Keywords: tourism potential index; anthropic services; ecosystem services; tourism management; cultural heritage; potential tourism; cultural tourism; human wellbeing; heritage management; tourism assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6415/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/11/6415/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:6415-:d:569008

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().