Bottom-up in the planning of sustainable tourism: the case of the communities of the Santa Fe littoral in Ecuador

Abstract

Tourism constantly generates a series of interrelationships that induce planners to propose actions that satisfy both local stakeholders and applicants, and that, through appropriate management approaches, mitigate the negative impacts of the segregated model that are often found in different coastal destinations. In this context, it is intended to define a tourism planning model in communities of Santa Elena that integrate public policies, aspects of sustainability, democracy and endogeneity, therefore, it was necessary to take the bottom-up approach, attributing the importance of community members in the empowerment of sustainable planning processes and their contribution in the conversion of territory to tourist destination in the context of its potentialities; Consequently, a cross-sectional exploratory-descriptive research methodological process is attributed, which was developed in four stages: bibliographic review, analysis of perception of tourism and its planning, design of the model and its assessment. As a result, an integrated model based on a concrete methodology and indicators is presented, which, articulated by its actors, guides tourism planning from the conception and use of endogenous and exogenous resources.