Water as a Tourist Resource in Extremadura: Assessment of Its Attraction Capacity and Approximation to the Tourist Profile

Abstract

In inland areas water is an important resource for attracting tourists as is the case in Extremadura. For this reason this research aims to determine its attraction capacity for travelers from other parts of Spain. In 2017, 13,848 surveys were carried out in the tourist offices of the region, from which 3403 were selected from those practicing tourism related to water. This has allowed us to find out the type of tourist who visits the area and his/her origin. By means of a geographical information system, a network analysis was applied to determine the attraction capacity of certain infrastructures. This result confirms that the most frequently visited areas coincide with the presence of natural swimming pools, although reservoirs do not act as centers of attraction for tourists although they do for visitors. At the same time, it was found that tourists practicing activities related to water resources come from neighboring areas but their attraction capacity extends to distant areas which coincide with areas that were the destination for regional emigration. Moreover, we advocate the need for establishing tourist policies involving greater tourist exploitation of reservoirs and the deseasonalization of tourism in the northern area, where most areas prepared for bathing are to be found.