Periódico: Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research
Fonte: Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research; Vol 5 No 1 (2022): Journal of Tourism and Heritage Research; 153-164
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Resumo:
Tourism is a strategic sector for economic and social development, and nowadays security in tourism activities and for the tourist has become an essential element. This paper analyses the Way of St. James religious tourism where security plays a relevant role that must be managed by public authorities. A key ally when optimizing public services is definitely the application of technologies to security, a crucial tool that must be necessarily accompanied by a specific legal framework. In the case of Spain, such framework is made up of the so-called Safe Tourism Plan, developed by the Ministry for Home Affairs, and the extensive regional legislation directly affecting the tourism industry, both of which are studied. Besides, this paper also analyses the publicly owned application promoted by the Ministry Alertcops, with its many functionalities devised to guarantee tourists and pilgrims safety on the 'Camino de Santiago'. Finally, some examples of other applications of public and private ownership are included, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The analysis leads to the conclusion that this type of tools should be of public ownership – or should at least have the support and data of the Public Administrations – in order to ensure the reliability of the information and to enable the possible assistance required by tourists.
