Natural heritage, rural tourism and climate change in the Alt Empordà (Catalonia)

Abstract eng:
The heritage has an undeniable natural component that is linked to the landscape. Landscape is the basis on which some economic activities such as tourism, key to the future of heritage, are based. One of the major threats to our society has to face is climate change. The consequences of this change will impact on the landscape, and these impacts may affect tourism activities that take place there. It is in this sense that this research tries to reveal some aspects of the uncertainties caused by climate change in the landscapes of the Catalan touristic region of the Alt Empordà. To do 54 people were surveyed by means of a structured interview. The subjects were selected by simple random sampling from the owners of rural tourism establishments that are integrated within the rural accommodation group (therefore, agrotourism establishments were excluded) in the Alt Empordà according to a list provided by the Departament d’Empresa i Ocupació (Department for Business and Employment) of the Generalitat de Catalunya regional authority. The results show that the owners of the establishments (some of them of undoubted historical value) think that they themselves play an important role in preserving the territorial and landscape heritage of the area. Respondents contemplate the rural tourism as a remarkable tool in the conservation of that heritage. Threequarters of the owners interviewed have the conviction that this environmental change will bring major changes in the physiognomy of the region. The work also demonstrated that this is a collective concerned about the consequences that climate change can generate in heritage and in their business setting. The majority view among these stakeholders is that the territory of the Alt Empordà in danger of her attractive heritage can be reduced from the natural perspective it being able to be a threat to their business.

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