New approaches in the geography of tourism: governance and territorial intelligence as the latest stages in the evolution of coastal tourism management

Abstract

The coastal space has been under strong pressure over the last 80 years. Global tourism and real estate development has generated important territorial effects due, among other causes, to heavy urbanisation and land occupation. Consequently, one of the global future challenges facing the discipline of geography is to provide understanding and empirical response to this phenomenon. This article is based on new approaches in geography that allow us to apply territorial intelligence to coastal tourist destinations. The first sections reflect on territorial governance, territorial intelligence and smart tourism destinations. Subsequently, the importance of coastal areas in tourism is justified in order to propose applied tools and technological solutions that can help managers to analyse situations and make decisions. As a result of the authors’ research and transfer, several systems of indicators are proposed that evaluate and measure the type of tourism development, its impacts, sustainability and its own governance. These new approaches are considered fundamental for the planning and adequate management of the territory.