Abstract
Spatial planning and territorial promotion can benefit largely from the application of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) at different scales. From knowledge acquisition to management and planning, their role in building an image of the territory, and constantly updating it to the benefit of users and planners, is of paramount importance. Institutional channels, together with social networks, are the means by which both a local community and a wider community of users share experiences and perceptions. ICTs are therefore strategic in supporting and promoting a sustainable tourism development of territories. Data and information aggregators as dashboards represent examples of decision support systems where digital data are organized and processed to produce an information output. The present paper is part of a wider research, related to the valorization of a former mining area in the Sulcis-Iglesiente area (Sardinia, Italy), where the extraction activity has left the place to abandonment, and only recently to tourism, stressing the concept of slow tourism. Such new opportunity has been launched with the Santa Barbara Walk (SBW), an ancient mining route currently trying to consolidate as a tourism attraction area. Such a territory is in constant transition with unique characters of anthropic and naturalistic characterization, setting itself as a green infrastructure, capable also of attracting a wide community of regional and extra-regional users. However, its digital network—consisting of intangible infrastructure and flows—is fragmented in terms of policies and contents. Additionally, a state of disorganization in slow tourism promotion activities can be observed. To implement the SBW capabilities, the present paper aims to develop a proposal for the framework of a circular dashboard applied to the SBW. In particular, we implement a set of indicators of performance of the SBW for the organization of information on the walk’s main characters, to facilitate a shared governance and an effective tourism promotion. The SBW is recognized as a network connecting the main points of interest preferred by the slow tourism (This paper is based on the Research project TSULKI—Tourism and Sustainability in the Sulcis (Sardinia-Italy)—and on the agreement protocol between DICAAR Department of Cagliari University and Foundation of the Santa Barbara Walk, signed in December 2018).
Highlights
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in the process of acquiring awareness and knowledge from a territory, as well as of its management, enhancement, and promotion at different scales [1,2,3,4]
Such new opportunity has been launched with the Santa Barbara Walk (SBW), an ancient mining route currently trying to consolidate as a tourism attraction area
The SBW is recognized as a network connecting the main points of interest preferred by the slow tourism (This paper is based on the Research project TSULKI—Tourism and Sustainability in the Sulcis (Sardinia-Italy)—and on the agreement protocol between DICAAR Department of Cagliari University and Foundation of the Santa Barbara Walk, signed in December 2018)
Summary
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in the process of acquiring awareness and knowledge from a territory, as well as of its management, enhancement, and promotion at different scales [1,2,3,4]. The area of Sulcis-Iglesiente, located in the South-Western part of Sardinia (Italy), went through a phase of economic conversion based on sustainable slow tourism development [18,19,20,21] referred to abandoned mines [22,23] This is the part of cultural tourism that arises from the reinterpretation, conservation, and enhancement of the material and immaterial mining heritage through the green infrastructures from the ancient mining tracks [24]. In the Sulcis-Iglesiente region, this type of tourism based on the use of ecosystem services is becoming a driving force for economic development [24], providing answers to the recent trend of preferring tourism activities for recreational and spiritual purposes [25], training or work, and slow and sustainable forms of mobility [26] This is in line with the objectives of the Historical Environmental Geo-mining Park of Sardinia, established in October 2001 to safeguard and enhance the architectural and landscape heritage. - The fourth section—Results—reports and discusses the main research results carried out. - Conclusions are drawn in the fifth section, where the major findings are presented, together with the future developments of the research
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