Leisure and Tourism Transformation in Urban Sites: Fundidora Monterrey Case

Adriana E. Estrada-González

《International Leisure Review》 3卷1期 (2014/03) Pp. 127-136

https://doi.org/10.6298/ILR.2014.3.6

並列摘要

During the last decades, the idea of investing in tourism development through urban sites revitalization has been well practiced. Usually, cultural projects and tourism infrastructure promote urban revitalization. Urban sites may be converted into tourism destinations. They could be small cities or megalopolis, touristic traditional cities or recently promoted tourist sites. The inclusion of cultural venues, leisure centers, business/convention centers, and tourist attractions are main features to evaluate the tourist level of a place. However, natural resources in a destination may offer a sense of place, such as climate, weather conditions, topography, region's vegetation or water affluent. As well, cultural resources such as historical places, ethnic customs, and even local food are sources of attractions. To think about urban tourism, it is necessary to conduct serious research and develop an inventory of assets available in the proposed site. Conservation on historic buildings and built infrastructures could be one of the most ambitious projects. Revitalizing convents and monasteries, castles and palaces, caves, bullfight arenas, and wind mills are only few examples of this tourism trend. Cultural tourism is nowadays on the most rapidly expansion sectors in the industry, becoming a key character for urban, architectural and functional revitalization. This paper aims to present the case of Fundidora Monterrey, a century-old steel factory. It closed in the 1980s, staying abandoned for more than 15 years. Later on, through the initiative of the government as well as the civic and the private sector, the land was recovered and the infrastructure slowly started to be restored. Today, this land hosts a business/convention center, one auditorium, one sports arena, a hotel, a theme park, three museums, a cinema hall, an interactive-scientific steel museum, and many other multi-purpose areas, all of them using part of the original factory infrastructure. Its revitalization provided, at the beginning, a magnificent leisure area for the local community. Suddenly, it became a tourist spot not to be missed by foreign visitors and tourists.

並列關鍵字

leisure ； tourism ； urban transformations ； managerial strategies