Abstract
There are different methodologies to assess landscape preferences, however there is no consensual methodology that can be replicated to identify their tourism potential. Recent studies have focused on agricultural landscape preferences due to their cultural characteristics. Although agricultural activity conflicts with the management models of natural protected areas, traditional models and sustainable practices reveal opportunities to boost tourism in this area, both for their aesthetic value, and for the opportunity to preserve biodiversity and maintain “lively landscapes”. The present study focuses on a double approach to collect data to measure the preferences for landscape typologies to realize outdoor/recreative activities in Tagus International Nature Reserve (TINR), among them, agricultural landscapes, such as the agro-silvopastural system “Dehesa/Montado” or olive grove. The preference of the landscapes were evaluated through photographs with pairwise comparison and without photographs observation, in which 174 respondents were consulted with. The different methodologies applied allowed for the extraction of different results, which led to the assumption that in fact there is no single methodology to assess preferences. However, the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology with photographical pairwise comparison allowed for the extraction of more robust results when considering attractions with tourism typologies, revealing that “Cultural tourism/Rural mixed” and “Agritourism” were the most valued. This information is pertinent to support TINR managers and local tourism promoters to plan and structure products and services based on button-up methodologies.
Highlights
Protected natural areas are widely recognized as spaces for recreation, landscape and nature contemplation; spaces with the opportunity to discovery traditions and local history, as well to promote biodiversity conservation [1]
Despite the several challenges that have been placed in the management process of agricultural activity in protected natural areas due to competition for land use and the impact on nature conservation [12], the literature argues that land use management based on biodiversity protection can provide ecological networks where production and nature conservation can be guaranteed at the same time [13,14]
When analyzing the results of the landscape preferences evaluation with pairwise comparison, it appears that there is greater affinity of respondents with the cultural landscape associated with rurality, where traces of a vast historical heritage resulting from human occupation predominate (20.3%) (Table 4)
Summary
Protected natural areas are widely recognized as spaces for recreation, landscape and nature contemplation; spaces with the opportunity to discovery traditions and local history, as well to promote biodiversity conservation [1] They are authentic natural and cultural reserves [2], which has motivated their increased demand in recent years, gaining particular interest when positively affecting the development of rural areas [3] and crossborders regions [4]. This aspect configures new interests for the traditional agricultural landscapes due to the historical and cultural values preserved, especially in remote areas [5]. The mechanics of the management of protected natural areas are important tools to maintain agricultural practices that preserve cultural landscapes [15], which are authentic reservoirs of biodiversity [16] and vehicles to preserve traditions [17]
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