TOURISM, ECOCULTURAL HERITAGE, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND TERRITORIAL VALORIZATION IN THE BORDER MOUNTAINS OF THE IBERIAN CENTRAL MOUNTAIN RANGE

Abstract

The border of central Portugal with Castylla y Leon and Extremadura in Spain, combines ecocultural resources of great value. These should be articulated in a complementary way in an integrated territorial vision, reinforcing a wider market that, due to the differences and proximity, allow the construction of a composite tourist product. The perceptions of the past, associated with the constraints and barriers that these spaces represent, have been attenuated and present at the present time a greater relationship, through the approximations generated by the physical and technological communication routes, as well as by the forms of formal and informal cooperation developed. These territories, in addition to their natural value, represent their own ways of life, with systems of agricultural and forestry use, revealing a sustainable appropriation of the physical elements and their resources, allowing the construction of landscapes and ecosystems of ecoculture relevance, associated to the cultural heritage existing. At present, new opportunities are emerging as a result of tourism demand and its condition as international spaces of circulation. Mountain border areas, due to their patrimonial value and resources, require the coordination of efforts between the management entities and the various touristic actors.