New Routes of Geotourism for the La Campana–Peñuelas Biosphere Reserve, Chile

Abstract

The Mediterranean ecosystem of Central Chile is considered a global “hotspot” of biodiversity due to its high level of endemism and rapid rate of destruction of its habitats. This is why the conservation of biodiversity and geodiversity has recently gained greater importance, including the potential of Biosphere Reserves to new international management agreements. The concept of Biosphere Reserves (associated to the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program) and its foundations of land and territory management gives the possibility of a Participatory Action Research with the different actors of the territory. For the characterization La Campana–Peñuelas Biosphere Reserve as a Geotouristic destiny, an innovative methodological procedure was developed with diverse theoretical, conceptual, and technical approaches. This includes the assessment of geodiversity sites and also the cadastral registers and inventories of attractions and tourist services in the countryside, with the most suitable places were determined to locate activities/services for nature and rural tourism. In addition, we connected the character of the attractions with the trends of international demand in natural and cultural tourism, which allowed us to formulate and predesign 9 routes. The criteria for the final selection of tourist routes were (a) Territorial aptitude including traceability of agro-sustainable products at community level; (b) Tourist equipment; (c) Complementary services; (d) Investments; and (e) Associativity. Applying these criteria, four tourist routes were designed (a) Casablanca Valley Wine Route; (b) Charles Darwin Route (La Campana and Palmas de Ocoa); (c) Royal road Route “La Dormida”; and (d) Railroad route Valparaíso—Santiago. Finally, and responding to the need to measure and quantify the perception of the quality of services and the environment of the new routes, a survey was applied to evaluate the satisfaction of visitors to the La Campana–Peñuelas Biosphere Reserve. In addition, national, regional, and local tour operators were invited to evaluate critical points and gaps in tourist services and the management of the territories.