Publicación:
Defining the Optimal Ranges of Tourist Visits in UNESCO World Heritage Caves with Rock Art: The Case of El Castillo and Covalanas (Cantabria, Spain)

Vista sencilla de ítem
dc.contributor.authorFernandez Cortes, Angel
dc.contributor.authorPalacio Perez, Eduardo
dc.contributor.authorMartin Pozas, Tamara
dc.contributor.authorCuezva, Soledad
dc.contributor.authorOntañon, Roberto
dc.contributor.authorLario Gómez, Javier
dc.contributor.authorSanchez Moral, Sergio
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-06T09:56:59Z
dc.date.available2025-11-06T09:56:59Z
dc.date.issued2025-03-22
dc.descriptionThe registered version of this article, first published in “Applied Science, 15, 2025", is available online at the publisher's website: MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/app15073484
dc.descriptionLa versión registrada de este artículo, publicado por primera vez en “Applied Sciences, 15, 2025", está disponible en línea en el sitio web del editor: MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/app15073484
dc.description.abstractThe Cantabrian region, located in north Spain, is home to many caves with parietal art, some of them included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, such as El Castillo and Covalanas. These two caves are currently open to tourism and boast an exceptional archaeological heritage that includes magnificent examples of Palaeolithic cave art. Through a multiyear research project (2020–2022) sponsored by the Government of Cantabria, a precise characterisation of the environmental dynamics of each cave under different meteorological contexts was carried out, as well as an evaluation of the evolution of the impacts of anthropic origin on the underground microclimate under different degrees of influx of visitors on an interannual scale. We aimed to unravel the effects of daily visitor flow on cave environmental stability and offer well-defined recommendations to harmonise conservation priorities with public accessibility based on sustainable tourism management. Once the microclimatic control parameters for the conservation of the paintings, engravings, and supporting rock, such as temperature and CO2 concentration in the air, were assessed under different seasonal meteorological conditions, a standardised graphic method was implemented based on the frequency distribution of the variations in each parameter, grouped according to the different increasing ranges of daily visits. With this method, it is possible to evaluate, probabilistically and in percentage terms, the microclimatic destabilisation of the cave generated by each group of visitors, taking as a reference the daily variation ranges of each control parameter under natural conditions, i.e., during the days or periods of time in which each cave remained closed to tourist visits. The recommended values of maximum visitor capacity for each cave, in terms of average monthly daily visitor numbers, have been set at 60 and 15 visitors/day for El Castillo and Covalanas caves, respectively. Based on these results, the cave managers are carrying out, from May 2024, a progressive adaptation in the tourist management of these caves until they are fully adapted to the environmental sustainability parameters defined in this study.en
dc.description.versionversión publicada
dc.identifier.citationFernandez-Cortes, A.; Palacio-Pérez, E.; Martin-Pozas, T.; Cuezva, S.; Ontañon, R.; Lario, J.; Sánchez-Moral, S. (2025). Defining the Optimal Ranges of Tourist Visits in UNESCO World Heritage Caves with Rock Art: The Case of El Castillo and Covalanas (Cantabria, Spain). Applied Science, 15, 3484. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15073484
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3390/app15073484
dc.identifier.issn2076-3417
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/30786
dc.journal.issue7
dc.journal.titleApplied Sciences
dc.journal.volume15
dc.language.isoen
dc.page.initial3484
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.relation.centerFacultad de Ciencias
dc.relation.departmentCiencias Analíticas
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es
dc.subject2506 Geología
dc.subject.keywordsshow cavesen
dc.subject.keywordsenvironmental controlen
dc.subject.keywordscarrying capacityen
dc.subject.keywordstemperatureen
dc.subject.keywordsCO2en
dc.titleDefining the Optimal Ranges of Tourist Visits in UNESCO World Heritage Caves with Rock Art: The Case of El Castillo and Covalanas (Cantabria, Spain)en
dc.typeartículoes
dc.typejournal articleen
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication2f4b8f5c-b4e0-4ed9-a55b-3d876e694b19
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery2f4b8f5c-b4e0-4ed9-a55b-3d876e694b19
Archivos
Bloque original
Mostrando 1 - 1 de 1
Miniatura
Nombre:
Lario_Javier_Heritage caves_JAVIER LARIO GOMEZ.pdf
Tamaño:
4.45 MB
Formato:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Descargar
Bloque de licencias
Mostrando 1 - 1 de 1
No hay miniatura disponible
Nombre:
license.txt
Tamaño:
3.62 KB
Formato:
Item-specific license agreed to upon submission
Descripción:
Descargar
Colecciones
Artículos y papers