Systemic Approach to Strategic Tourism Planning in the Cantonal Capital of Bahía de Caráquez, Sucre, Ecuador

Abstract

Bahia de Caraquez is a tourist destination since the 80s for its excellent cuisine and shrimp boom. It is currently a city abandoned by massive migration because of two devastating earthquakes above 7 on the Richter scale in the years 1998 and 2016 respectively. This reality has caused precarious conditions due to recurrent seismic movements in recent years. The coastal territory has a rich diversity in natural resources, bordering islands and estuaries with various tourist attractions that have a high economic value. This area is influenced by changes in land and sea, so that its coasts are highly vulnerable to environmental phenomena. The objective of the present investigation is to design a strategic plan for the renovation of the tourist infrastructure under earthquake-resistant criteria, in addition to the reactivation and potentialization of gastronomic tourism in Bahia de Caraquez of Canton Sucre beach. The systemic approach will make it possible to define the guidelines of the strategic plan for the development and socioeconomic reactivation through the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected statistical data. The spatial and descriptive analysis of the data obtained in the field proposes a functional and sustainable city model for both local residents and visitors through the gentrified tourism conversion model. The proposal of infrastructures and tourist nodes will contemplate the location of geological faults as well as the identification of critical and favorable points for the establishment of poles of socioeconomic development.