Abstract
The functional diversification of coastal fishing communities has been a central objective of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) since the early stages of its implementation. A large part of the initiatives financed throughout Europe have been linked to the creation of synergies between the fishing sector and tourism. This paper analyses the opportunities for the development of fishing tourism at the regional level, considering the investments of European and regional funds on the development of fishing tourism in Galicia. Special attention is given to the incorporation of the territorial perspective and Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) for the sustainable development of fishing areas. The results show limitations of this form of tourism in terms of employment and income, especially those developed by fishermen, despite the significant support of the regional government for this activity. This situation allows a critical reflection on the opportunity to convert fishermen into tourist guides, based on the need to diversify the economy and income of fishing communities.
Highlights
Local development is a generalised paradigm in order to initiate processes of socioeconomic progress in peripheral areas, in an attempt to respond to productive restructuring and economic crises, as stated by [1,2,3,4,5]
The present study focuses on marine and fishing tourism in Galicia, Spain, and the difficulties in becoming a central element in the economic diversification in coastal areas
In most cases it is used in a broad sense, to designate all kinds of leisure activities related to the fishing sector, in a maritime or coastal environment, carried out by professionals of the sea or by tourist agents
Summary
Local development is a generalised paradigm in order to initiate processes of socioeconomic progress in peripheral areas, in an attempt to respond to productive restructuring and economic crises, as stated by [1,2,3,4,5]. The EU rural development programmes began to be drawn up in the last decade of the twentieth century with the aim of promoting a change from a model based on agricultural development to one oriented towards the diversification of the rural economy. Since 2007, rural development has been a fully developed policy, funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), and created to respond to the socio-economic and environmental challenges of rural areas and their agricultural model. With the European Union LEADER initiative, the issue of rural development was included within the European Regional Policy framework to promote the application of the new structural and territorial measures of the CAP [6,7].
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