Desarrollo de la potencialidad turística del Parque Natural de las Salinas de Santa Pola (Alicante)

Abstract

The exhaustion of the conventional tourist model in the province of Alicante, characterized by residentialism, overcrowding, seasonality and by the territory degradation, makes the approach of new tourists modalities and the development of other practices necessary in order to diversify the supply and complement this already consolidated model. Actually, a tourist sector in growing tendency is the nature tourism, where the protected natural areas, particularly natural parks, have a special participation. Thus, the value of natural and patrimonial resources and the impulse of potential tourist products will contribute not only to this diversification but also to the socioeconomic revitalization in the environment of these natural reserves. This paper analyses Santa Pola Salt Flats Nature Park as a clear example of that and it is used as a case study to verify the natural reserves tourist potentiality and the insufficient development of public use and its equipments, always with the essential criterion of the sustainability and the respect for the enviromental values.