Landscape perception of local population: the relationship between ecological characteristics, local society and visitor preferences

Abstract

Previous research has described and mapped the ‘visitor-landscape’ correspondence in terms of ‘demand’ and ‘offer’. The relationship between the landscape and the socio-economic structure of the local population has also been studied, enabling us to create scenarios of change. Other relationships are being studied in order to provide an understanding both of the local population and of the tourism industry within the context of the ‘landscape resource’, in an attempt to produce results, both for this industry and for the sensible and sustainable management of the above mentioned resource. In the present paper we focus on the island of Fuerteventura (Canary Isles, Spain) and attempt to describe an assessment of the landscape by local populations – ‘local population-landscape’ correspondence – and compare it with the perception of visitors – ‘visitors-landscape’ correspondence. The results show a clear parallelism between the appreciation of the island’s landscape by visitors and locals. The former consider the variable ‘sun’ to be essential in their appreciation of the landscape, this factor constituting the reason for their visit, whereas the latter value the landscape more highly than the visitors, taking it as something associated with the traditional rural world and as a reason to feel proud. This could be explained by means of a relaxed visit to the island from an anthropologist’s perspective. A comparison between the ‘assessment of the landscape by the local population’ and ‘landscape demand by visitors’ can also be mapped, and could be better explained within the context of the research to which the present paper belongs.