Intercambio cultural de buenas prácticas mediante la valoración turística del patrimonio religioso entre la Catedral de Santa María de Gerona, España y la Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción de Cuenca, Ecuador para la gestión de visitantes en pro de la conservación de acuerdo a la realidad de cada sitio

This paper analyzes and contrasts two realities of cathedrals in different latitudes, Santa Maria (Girona, Spain) and the Immaculate Conception (Cuenca, Ecuador), temples tourism potential, holders of various attributes and different values each other, they have the opportunity to consolidate and develop sustainably benefits for the host community and the visitor experiences through cultural tourism sustainably managed. The proposed methodology is descriptive in accordance with the method of comparative analysis. In principle reference documents (ICOMOS cards) are taken, further builds on the Manual tourist valuation (2013), by the Tecnotur Foundation and the University of Cadiz, which has ten principles for touristically evaluate a religious temple. These principles are analyzed according to the review of management models each site and the site of the same observation. The results of comparative analysis lie in resource management, the host community, information technology and communication, paternalism and cultural welfarism, among others, which have served to make recommendations for visitor management in the conservation of architectural and religious sites studied according to each situation, doing an exercise in cultural exchange of experiences. It is concluded that the tourist assessment is an effective tool for analyzing real religious buildings, it is also time that tourism is a tool that can and should contribute to the conservation of sites with heritage values.