Reflexiones en torno al turismo volcánico. El caso de Islas Canarias, España

The established sun‑and‑beach destinations are suffering serious economic and social hardships. It must be added to this an increasingly demanding clientele also requiring a multifarious and diverse range of alternatives. In this sense, geotourism is one further option within the touristic pool given by many consolidated, sun‑and‑beach destinations. As regards the Canary Islands, and taking into consideration the diversity of its settings, volcanic tourism appears now as the main form of geotourism and a measure for the needed diversification of the Canarian touristic product. On the one hand, this paper intends to sketch the theoretical issues and definition of volcanic tourism, its research lines at the present and touristic lure. On the other, and from a practical perspective, the aim is to develop a model for the islands including different volcano touristic products currently exploited, some of them enclosed within the campaign for touristic competitiveness “Canary Islands volcanic experience”.