Oferta de artesanías en el cantón Puerto López y su impacto en el desarrollo turístico local.

Abstract

Tourism represents the means par excellence to preserve cultural identity, so artisans must respond to these requirements. On this basis, the objective of the research is to determine the impact of the handicraft offers on the local tourism development of the Puerto López Canton. The work was carried out in three phases: initial diagnosis of the supply of handicrafts, identification of indicators and system of indicators-impacts and evaluation of the impact of the supply of handicrafts. For the development of the research, methods, techniques and tools were used such as: analytical-synthetic, comparison, interviews, surveys, sampling and criteria of specialists. The results show that the highest percentages of respondents related to negative impacts of the supply of handicrafts are related to the environment, these are: environmental situation of the canton, solid waste management, recycling of products and raw materials, conditions of the vegetation by activity developed and conditions of the fauna and animal world by the activity developed. The main strengths of the offer of handicrafts raised by managers and artisans are associated with: it favors economic development, fosters cultural identity, creates sources of local employment and improves quality of life, visitor satisfaction with the purchase of handicrafts.