Tourism in a protected natural area (PNA): Sports hunting and hiking from the perception of strategic actors

Tourism activity in natural protected areas is increasing worldwide. These areas belong to the country’s heritage and their natural conditions should be preserved, taking advantage of the resources and the sustainable use of the area. The general objective of the study was to analyse the perception of travel agencies and visitors to a natural protected area and the specific objectives were to determine the image of the natural protected area from the perspective of visitors and to learn about the travel agencies’ perception of the natural protected area as a tourist destination for sport hunting and hiking. The study is a mixed approach, basic, non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design. A probabilistic sampling by convenience and intentional was estimated, considering 100 visitors and 5 formal travel agencies in the city of Mancora with interest in providing tourist services to the protected natural area. The study found that 12% of the visitors agree that the area has an image of an ecological and restful place, a place for tourism activities such as trekking, sport hunting, hiking, bird watching, biking, and photography. On the other hand, travel agency representatives have little knowledge of the destination; however, they show interest in considering the destination as part of their tourism packages, given that there is evidence of potential demand because the destination is innovative and offers sports tourism practices.