Abstract
This paper presents empirical research that supports territorial approaches to tourism product development that ground tourism in science, as a mechanism to support sustainable tourism heritage conservation goals. Scientific Tourism (ST), in this context, builds on the scientific heritage of a geography, matching researchers with local actors and tourists, through a five-stage iterative process that leads to new scientific knowledge, advancing theory and building relevance for communities through socio-cultural and economic development. This article focuses on the initial stage of the ST product development process, documenting empirical research conducted within the geographies surrounding the Palena River watershed in the Aysén Region of Chilean Patagonia. Both geo-structured literature review methods and results are presented and discussed to illustrate how the outcomes, including a series of maps, can inform and ground actors’ processes of heritage resource identification, justification, conservation, and exhibition, through the development of pilot ST initiatives within the territory. Similar research approaches may prove valuable for other low-density and peripheral geographies that share an interest in grounding tourism on the science taking place within their geography.
Highlights
Over the past 15 years, researchers and communities in the Aysén Region of southernChile, have attempted to construct a tourism grounded in scientific knowledge and processes to support the resilience and sustainability of local socio-ecological systems while contributing to territorial competitiveness and coherence [1,2,3,4]
The results of this study help to inform the initial stage of the Scientific tourism (ST) product development process through the identification of scientific heritage resources that can be brought into the ST product development process within a specific geographical area
This article has focused on the initial stage of the ST product development process that has been used within the Aysén Region of southern Chile for the past 15 years
Summary
Chile, have attempted to construct a tourism grounded in scientific knowledge and processes to support the resilience and sustainability of local socio-ecological systems while contributing to territorial competitiveness and coherence [1,2,3,4]. Scientific tourism (ST), in this context, builds on the scientific heritage of a geography, by matching researchers with local actors in an ongoing process that leads to shared understanding and the creation of new scientific knowledge that can support the conservation and resilience of communities and their natural and socio-cultural settings. Tourism products, developed using the ST approach, link the world of research with the local community and visitors, through ongoing projects that blend tourist experiences with scientific fieldwork, the generation of new knowledge, dissemination activities, and ongoing destination monitoring of pivotal scientific phenomena.
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