Strategic planning: local development instrument to strengthen rural tourism in Tierras Altas, Chiriquí, Panama

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present some of the results obtained from an investigation performed in Distrito de Tierras Altas. We made a recount of some of the milestones by which the planning of tourism was effected, and from this basis a participative diagnostic has been made, evaluating resources and touristic attractions, planning, services offered, the perception of the experience from traveling there and the level of organization of the communities involved. Tourism activity in Panama has considerably evolved in the last two decades, as observed in the statistics of arrivals and tourism expenditures by visitors. This situation sparked the interest to perform this study and to have an effective tourism planning. In this sense, the geographic space turns into the fundamental support and resources of the activity, besides becoming a factor of development and localization. (Guzmán y Fernández, 2002). We are fully aware that tourism activities allow to gain knowledge and experiment different sensations, contributes to intercultural exchange, to economic diversification and to enhance the resources of each community, but it is in this process of giving value to the resources, the host community must be fully involved in generating and sustaining its own development. Strategic Planning is part of the need to integrate tourism with other activities, trying to maximize the benefits but minimizing the environmental, cultural and social risks. The fundamental aspect of this planning must be the need to integrate the process beginning with the involvement of the highest number of economic and social agents.