REGENERATIVE TOURISM: A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH TO REVITALIZE DEPRESSED RURAL AREAS IN THE ACONCAGUA VALLEY: CATEMU CASE STUDY. KEY FINDINGS

Abstract

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46296/yc.v9i17.0729

Abstract

This article examines regenerative tourism as a methodological strategy for revitalizing rural areas in decline, using the municipality of Catemu, Chile, as a case study. The study proposes a sustainable model for intervention in territories historically marked by extractivism, integrating environmental, social, and economic dimensions from a polycentric governance and effective community participation approach. Based on a mixed methodological approach, with qualitative tools, participatory diagnostics, and contextual analysis, the study advances in the initial validation of the Local Regeneration Index (LRI), an instrument designed to measure, in a situated manner, the net positive effects that characterize the regenerative paradigm. Several relevant preliminary findings were identified during the process. For example, productive use is the most prominent in Catemu, representing 24% of land use, followed by recreational use with 23%. However, tourism and ritual uses are less important (13% each), which shows a low value placed on tourism in the local socio-territorial structure, historically oriented towards mining, agriculture, and livestock. In addition, institutional fragmentation persists, with 64% of respondents acknowledging the lack of stable mechanisms for intersectoral coordination and a deficit in territorial co-responsibility, with 78% of community leaders feeling unrepresented in land-use planning. Even so, the study preliminarily validates the IRL as a tool for identifying internal asymmetries and guiding targeted interventions and participatory monitoring. This article thus constitutes a significant theoretical and applied contribution to the field of regenerative rural development, highlighting both the opportunities and the gaps identified for moving towards resilient, inclusive, and community-based tourism capable of overcoming institutional fragmentation and low tourism value in historically disadvantaged rural areas.

Keywords: Regenerative tourism, Rural development, Polycentric governance, Community participation, Territorial regeneration, Local Regeneration Index (LRI), Catemu Chile.