Agrarian transformation into a mountain tourist territory. The region of Alta Ribagorça, Aran and Pallars Sobirà

Abstract

In the Catalan Pyrenees, from a traditional economy based on livestock and forestry the territory has specialized from the economic perspective in the tertiary sector, a fact that has also brought about significant demographic and social changes. In this mountainous territory, tourism-and especially tourism linked to snow-has been one of the main drivers of change and territorial transformation. This article shows the evolution of the primary sector of the municipalities of three Catalan mountain regions (Vall d’Aran, Pallars Sobirà and Alta Ribagorça) in which snow tourism has had and is of considerable importance. In order to achieve this aim, and based on the consultation mainly the Agrarian Census, some indicators have been chosen that have allowed to observe the transformations in the primary activities of the 27 municipalities considered. In addition, the evolution of the sector has been analyzed under the perspective of the postproductivist transition. The results show that the study area has a regressive dynamics of the primary sector similar to the rest of the Catalan rural world, although the existence of a highly developed tourist sector gives this territory some synergies of different nature between both sectors.