Methodological Proposal about the Role of Landscape in the Tourism Development Process in Rural Areas: The Case of Molise Region (Italy)

The landscape has always been a fundamental factor in defining tourist flow attraction for local development. In this paper, landscape related to tourism have been analysed using three different measurements through appropriate performance indicators and rationalised with the aim of identifying a scheme of mutual relations. Applying advanced statistical methods of ranking and data synthesis, the area investigated (Molise, Italy) has been divided into different zones. Each area described has a specific relation between tourism and landscape useful in the implementation of optimal promotion strategies and valorisation of the area. In marginal areas, tourism can have an excellent growth potential, since they are characterized by the high quality of the landscape. However, the analysis highlights some gap areas, which means the existence of areas with high quality of the natural and agricultural landscape is not associated with an appropriate tourism development, or areas where the high tourism development is not associated with an appreciable quality of the landscape.