La Cuenca del Ruhr en Alemania: turismo industrial como ejemplo de la reconversión económica de una región

Abstract

In accordance with a paradigm shift related to space issues in science, also in research of traditional industrial regions establishing long and increasingly considering the ‘mental maps’ – the idea that quantifiable data and administrative boundaries have to be completed with the investigation of the conceptual worlds and symbolic fields such as the perception of reality and identity processes. However, this is not only important to interrelate the output of the productive structural crisis of traditional industrial regions with the question of change of perspective and identity, but for two reasons that are key to the tourism industry. The first is that the definition of tourism and the tourism industry in origin depend on the issue in a positive or negative view of tourists visiting the place. The second is the importance of developing a positive identity and perspective for structural change and the political, economic and social measures taken to mitigate its impact on the development of a sustainable and successful tourism industry. Therefore, this article will first approach the definition and then the interdependence of structural change, identity and tourism industry.