The development of rural tourism in Costa Rica has been supported by state universities; in the case of the National University, through the School of Geographical Sciences’s Territorial Tourism Studies Program. This Program, as a contribution to the management of the rural tourism, has developed the methodology of survey and participatory mapping of tourism resources in the target communities of university extension projects.
The main objective of the methodology is to identify, in a participatory manner, the resources and tourist attractions (in addition to the existing tourism in communities) and their potential for designing products and tourist routes in the study areas. The identification is done through workshops in participating communities in which community leaders have been identified in a participatory manner, and, through official maps, both natural and cultural resources of the community are portrayed from a spatial point of view. This allows the tourism product desing of tourism products that allow the conservation of the local heritage (natural and cultural) not only as a resource but as an intrinsic part of the local culture.
Mots clés : participatory mapping|local community|natural and cultural resources|tourism products
A105083PM