Classification model for products and tourism. Diving tourism at la Restinga (Canary Islands) and L´Estartit (Catalunya Province), Spain

Abstract

During the last ten years interest in reordering and enhancing tourism consumerism has drawn to new strategies in the use of natural resources at tourist destinations, different from the traditional logics of local stakeholders. Those actions are generally super estimated and little attention has been paid to its social and cultural effects on heritage as well as in local population. At the beginning of the 21st century heritage tourism consume has brought about a plethora of products and sub products that cannot be easily classified by classical typologies. It has also lead to the rise of new visitation areas and tourism developments. This article analyzes two cases in protected maritime areas where diving tourism is practiced giving an example of how difficult it is to encapsulate products and destinations in general classifications in order to set some criteria for development and prevention of unwished effects.