Assessment of the Ecotourism Potential of Hiking Trails in Castro Laboreiro

Ecotourism is a very widely used term, although it lacks an agreed definition. Many research is being made in this area regardless almost of them investigate the social benefits to local communities or the impacts of ecotourism projects in protected areas. Very few combine biological, ecological and cultural data. National Parks and other protected areas show high potential for the development of ecotourism projects, but they actually face huge damages caused by human pressure. So, ecotourism needs new approaches that combine both ecological and anthropogenic variables, allowing scattering tourists among the year, lessening the negative impacts caused by the recreational activities. Here it was proposed a novel approach that helps entities to manage activities in sensitive habitats in protected areas and enable to stimulate environmental awareness in tourists. Eight criteria were evaluated in order to achieve the ecotourism potential value of five trails, namely: species richness; number of habitats; medium value of habitats; number of natural marks; number of anthropogenic marks; landscape diversity; vertebrate conservation status and plant range distribution; and number of endemisms. Those were evaluated by season (except ‘number of habitats’, ‘medium value of habitats’ and ‘landscape diversity’) in order to realize spatial and temporal differences of the potential of those trails for the development of ecotourism activities. Ecotourism potential value was calculated in two different ways in order to understand if weighing criteria differently influence the final results. Ecotourism potential value was higher in all seasons for two of the studied trails – Trail 1 and Trail 5 – especially in spring. Although the first is explainable due to the highest number of species recorded, natural marks and anthropogenic marks; and due to the landscape diversity and vertebrate conservation status-plant range distribution highest values, the second is explained mostly by the great number of habitats it comprises and the respective medium value of habitats, as well as the most valuable anthropogenic marks recorded. It was also verified that when we opt for an approach where we weigh more some criteria than others, ecotourism potential value of trails by season may vary from the results obtained when we weighed all criteria the same. By accomplish a spatial and temporal evaluation, it could be possible to answer where and when recreational activities should take place, scattering them through the year, lessening the negative impacts of the mass tourism in summer. Also this study provided relevant information that helps to manage ecotourism activities in protected areas, achieving FCUP Assessment of the Ecotourism Potential of Hiking Trails in Castro Laboreiro iv one of the main goals of ecotourism: sustainability. Yet, it contributes to update information on local biodiversity data, which in turn may protect more efficiently species under threat or still less known. Moreover, this kind of evaluation can be applied in further ecotourism studies. FCUP Assessment of the Ecotourism Potential of Hiking Trails in Castro Laboreiro v