Jerarquización de sitios turísticos naturales del cantón Manta, provincia de Manabí, Ecuador

Abstract

The Manta canton is part of the province of Manabí, Ecuador, constitutes a space of great natural tourist potential thanks to the presence of beaches and other coastal landscapes, as well as the abundant marine life, forest ecosystems and protected areas. In this context, the work aims to prioritize their tourist sites as dynamic elements of local tourism activity. For the execution of this, the methodology used by the Ministry of Tourism was considered, which consists of establishing a hierarchy of tourist sites, assigning them a weighting score by applying an evaluation sheet, and finally including it in one of the hierarchies established for this purpose. The result shows 15 spaces with potential to be tourist attractions, distributed in four hierarchical levels as follows, three in hierarchy III, nine in hierarchy II, and three in hierarchy I. It is concluded that the evaluation of the tourist potential of Manta is fundamental for planning the use of its heritage, and consequently, become a reference destination and generator of income for its population.