The Assessment of the Tourism Potential of the Tagus International Nature Reserve Landscapes Using Methods Based on the Opinion of the Demand

Abstract

There are different methodologies to assess landscape preferences, however there is no consensual methodology that can be replicated to identify their tourism potential. Recent studies have focused on agricultural landscape preferences due to their cultural characteristics. Although agricultural activity conflicts with the management models of natural protected areas, traditional models and sustainable practices reveal opportunities to boost tourism in this area, both for their aesthetic value, and for the opportunity to preserve biodiversity and maintain “lively landscapes”. The present study focuses on a double approach to collect data to measure the preferences for landscape typologies to realize outdoor/recreative activities in Tagus International Nature Reserve (TINR), among them, agricultural landscapes, such as the agro-silvopastural system “Dehesa/Montado” or olive grove. The preference of the landscapes were evaluated through photographs with pairwise comparison and without photographs observation, in which 174 respondents were consulted with. The different methodologies applied allowed for the extraction of different results, which led to the assumption that in fact there is no single methodology to assess preferences. However, the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology with photographical pairwise comparison allowed for the extraction of more robust results when considering attractions with tourism typologies, revealing that “Cultural tourism/Rural mixed” and “Agritourism” were the most valued. This information is pertinent to support TINR managers and local tourism promoters to plan and structure products and services based on button-up methodologies.

Intangible Heritage of the Dehesa: The Educational and Tourist Potential of Traditional Trades

“…Agritourism, as a new alternative, reveals new approaches to sustainable rural development, as it plays an essential role in education and recreation with agrarian tasks relevant to preserving the memory of a particular society or collective [20][21][22]. It stands as an appropriate strategy to preserve the rural heritage, tangible and intangible, projecting the personal and cultural value that these resources possess for the personnel linked to agricultural tasks [23].…”

Community participation as a premise for hangwurian city development in North Central Nigeria

“…For example [ 69 ], constructed several scenarios covering policy and climate change, including the one-child policy and carbon tax policy, and projected the land use distribution under various scenarios, which evaluated impacts on carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and water yields. Based on the aesthetic value and the recreation value of nature reserves [ 20 ], combine social and natural factors from the perspective of ES and select priority protected areas by comparing conservation efficiency under multiple scenarios. Medayese et al [ 45 ] used an artificial neural network model to analyze the land use changes in the city of Minna and ecosystem service values, noting that Minna in 2029 under the current urban spatial change model will witness a more significant consumption of ecological space thereby tilting the sustainability imbalance of the urban space.…”

“…Many people do not realise how vital their city or neighbourhood is. Policy scholars turn to community involvement in their research to gain access to community leadership, citizenship, and organisation [ 20 ]. With eight rungs that depend on the source, this widely debated metaphor distinguishes between different levels of engagement, from authoritarian consultation to collective citizen power.…”

Methodological System to Determine the Development Potential of Rural Tourism in Extremadura, Spain

“…It should not be forgotten that there are concepts whose representation in the tourist's mind can be variable. In this regard, there are authors who propose that the use of photos, compared in pairs and analyzed by the Hierarchical Analysis Process, offers better results [79]. The hierarchical analysis of the results facilitates the mathematical interpretation of a complex fact by dividing it into simpler parts.…”