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Abstract |
Natural landscapes are among the greatest tourist attractions all over the world. Nature is a way to re-gain energies from the stress experienced in urban areas. In the Azores archipelago, the nature-based tourism is one of the main touristic products of the islands, according to the Strategic and Marketing Plan for Tourism in the Azores. The liberalization of the Azorean airspace in 2015 to low-cost airlines, helped to boost the tourism industry in the archipelago, with a focus on nature-based activities such as nature sports and adventure events (e.g. MTB and Trail Running epic races). Other landscape outdoor activities such as Geocaching have also developed, the latter reaching about 2000 geocaches placed in many touristic locations of the islands. Here we analyzed two nature sports, Trail Running, a pedestrian run performed on trails in natural areas, with one of the essential elements of this race being the practitioners approach to nature; and Geocaching, which is a treasure hunt of modern times, practiced all over the world, where all it takes is a spirit of adventure and equipment with a GPS receiver, using the coordinates to provide hidden containers (geocaches) and share the experience of your online adventure. |
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