Agricultural landscape as a tourism resource and opportunity for local development. The case of the Green Belt of Mendoza (Argentina)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need of rethink the domestic tourism offer. Faced with the impossibility or difficulties of traveling to iconic destinations in our country or even abroad, the tourism "industry" was oriented to rethink new attractions focused on domestic offer. In this way, landscapes that had gone unseen by a large part of the population, began to present themselves as potential options for enjoyment. In this sense, the province of Mendoza is presented as a rich and diverse territory, with great potential if its dissimilar/heterogeneous landscapes were put into tourist value, promoted, and properly managed. Through a quali-quantitative methodological scheme, the objective of the present research article is to investigate the landscape of the Green Belt of Mendoza (CVM) and its components in tourism key, which allows to account for possible recreational and cultural activities associated with its territory and as a strategy to achieve local development. In this sense, possible tourist routes are proposed that would allow the articulation of natural and built elements with different characteristics and that make up the varied rural landscapes that would be valued as a tourist resource.