The Tourism Value of Terraced Fields Landscapes

Abstract

Due to the mountainous nature of the Island of La Gomera (Canary Islands, Spain) relatively little flat land is available. This has generated an impressive architecture of terraces with dry stone borders. However, the process of restructuring and readjusting rural areas, mainly due to the emergence of a new model of territorial development and the impossibility of mechanizing tillage, due to the very configuration and morphology of these terraces, have led to the abandonment of agricultural activity on the terraces, with the consequent decay and collapse of the dry-stone walls. This chapter sets out the strategy to develop tourism of the terraces in the north of the Island of La Gomera.