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Spatial analysis of visitor preferences in the outdoor recreational niche of Mediterranean cultural landscapes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2007

MARÍA F. SCHMITZ ,
ITZIAR DE ARANZABAL  and
FRANCISCO D. PINEDA
MARÍA F. SCHMITZ*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
ITZIAR DE ARANZABAL
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
FRANCISCO D. PINEDA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
*
*Correspondence: Dr María F. Schmitz Tel: +34 91 3944401 Fax: +34 91 3945081 e-mail: ma296@bio.ucm.es
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Summary

Many landscapes contain traditional rural systems of high environmental value and are attractive for cultural tourism, while the traditional activities indicate sensible use of some marginal areas, whether protected or not. Recreational activities and tourism constitute new uses lending cultural and economic interest. To maintain both rural and recreational uses of landscape, links need to be established with the local population, which has a tendency to abandon such rural areas. In this study, landscapes in Central Spain were categorized using variables which described their structure and associated natural and cultural characteristics. Visitors were categorized by surveying their visit preferences. Multivariate analyses of the two sets of data determined the degree of correspondence between the type of visitors and what the landscape could ‘offer’, considering perception, preferences, potential interest in specific landscapes (‘outdoor recreational niche’) and degree of satisfaction with regard to the natural and rural characteristics of the territory. The resulting thematic maps constitute useful tools for developing planning and environmental management strategies.

Keywords

landscape perceptionlandscape typeoutdoor recreational nichespatial-coincidence analysisspatial niche widthvisitor preferencesvisitor type
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 300 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2007

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