The Contribution of Tourism to Sustainable Rural Development in Peripheral Mining Spaces: The Riotinto Mining Basin (Andalusia, Spain)

Since the middle of the 20th century, the crisis of industrial mining activities in Western Europe has caused the cessation of mining, triggering a structural crisis. The necessity to look for alternatives has been widely discussed; among these alternatives, tourist activities based on mining herita...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bahamonde Rodríguez, María, Šadeikaitė, Giedrė, García Delgado, Francisco Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/23391
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23391
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Boring peripheries
Mining tourism
Rural destination
Stakeholders
Sustainable rural development
5312.90 Economía Sectorial: Turismo
Descripción
Sumario:Since the middle of the 20th century, the crisis of industrial mining activities in Western Europe has caused the cessation of mining, triggering a structural crisis. The necessity to look for alternatives has been widely discussed; among these alternatives, tourist activities based on mining heritage stand out. However, it is essential to address the study of those unattractive peripheral spaces in which new activities encounter obstacles to their development and face post-industrial and rural crises. The Riotinto Mining Basin (Huelva, Andalusia) represents an example of such rural spaces; it has an enormous cultural heritage, and the mine has recently been reactivated. The objective of this research is to analyze the contribution of mining tourism to sustainable rural development. The applied methodology was mixed and was based on interviews and secondary data. The results are (a) the achievement of the tourism value of the mining heritage; (b) the difficulties tourism faces in overcoming its peripheral condition; (c) the relative contribution of tourism to the improvement of the territorial image; (d) the lack of coordination among stakeholders; and (e) the limited contribution of tourism to sustainable rural development and its movement to a secondary economic role after the reopening of the mine.