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Georoutes as a Basis for Territorial Development of the Pacific Coast of South America: a Case Study

Abstract:

Thematic travel itineraries (e.g. architectural, archaeological, geological routes) can be instrumental in developing tourism in a given area. Travellers are expected to follow the itineraries to visit natural, cultural, historical, or religious places. This work aims to propose three geological routes (georoutes) in the Santa Elena province as a base for geotourism development. The methodology includes (i) the compilation of a geosite inventory that covers geosites and sites of industrial interest; (ii) the proposal of georoutes (GR-I, GR-II, and GR-III); (iii) the evaluation of the proposed routes through the Geotouristic Route Assessment (GtRAM) method and the study of reception capacity of the territory; (iv) the description of strategies for local geotourism development based on a SWOT analysis. The GtRAM method yields “average” values for all of the proposed routes (2.16/5, 2.68/5, and 2.74/5 for routes GR-I, GR-II, and GR-III, respectively). According to the reception capacity study, 85.2% of the geosites are in intrinsic use and are compatible with the proposed activities; therefore, the environmental impact of the georoutes is expected to be low. The SWOT analysis revealed that geotourism development is possible if based on strategic planning. In conclusion, the proposed georoutes will complement local economic activities, and thus contribute to local development.