Mapping tourism potential: a GIS-based analytical model applied to Aragón, Spain

Abstract

This poster presents a GIS-based analytical model for assessing tourism potential in Aragón, Spain. The framework integrates three dimensions: heritage attractiveness, tourism infrastructure and services, and accessibility to potential demand markets. Using the Eurostat 1 km² population grid as a common spatial framework, the model combines georeferenced inventories, travel-time accessibility and a gravity-based demand potential approach to construct a Tourism Potential Index (TPI) and a bivariate tourism supply–demand model. The results reveal marked territorial contrasts between tourism centralities, remote heritage-rich areas, accessible territories with limited tourism supply, and peripheral areas with low tourism potential. The approach highlights the role of accessibility and functional capacity in shaping territorial differentiation and demonstrates the value of bivariate cartography for identifying configurations that may remain obscured by a single composite index. The poster was presented at EuroCarto 2026, Brno, Czech Republic.