Diseño de circuitos turísticos para la parroquia Ulba, cantón Baños de Agua Santa, provincia de Tungurahua.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to design tourist circuits for the Ulba village, Baños de Agua Santa city, Tungurahua province; with the vision that these circuits could become a development instrument for the service sector all year round, then improving the current tourism offer. Consequently, three specific objectives were characterized. The first objective was focused on analyzing the current situation of tourism in the Ulba village. As part of the second objective, the tourist circuits were designed with the application of the methodological process proposed by Barrios (2009). Finally, the third objective consisted of determining the market strategies for dissemination, through the marketing mix adopted by Estaún (2019) that considers the aspects of product, price, market, and tourism promotion. As a result, based on its valuation, the inventory presented 17 potential tourist attractions as well as activities derived from 3 lines of tourist products such as: nature tourism (9 attractions), cultural tourism (3 attractions) and tourism of sports and adventure (5 attractions in the modality of land and air adventure); therefore, generating a safe recreational space. As a result, the design of 82 adaptations of tourist facilities within the trails was proposed. Additionally, dissemination strategies through digital marketing, the virtual tourist interface of the village, social media management (Facebook, Instagram, blogs and Ecuadorian influencers) were suggested. It was concluded that, with the design of tourist circuits, the attractions will be used and integrated into a new tourist offer attracting a larger percentage of visitors. It is recommended that the Decentralized Autonomous Government (GAD) of the village assume its role as a tourism manager to consolidate a quality offer under a network alliance model and supply with the necessary tourist facilities, as a guarantee of investment for the small and medium businesses (PYMES) in the area.