Heritage and tourism as enablers for rural development: The historic wineries of Fermoselle (Zamora)

The protection and recovery of cultural heritage have become a strategy for generating tourism resources that contributes to territorial economic development. Rural areas affected by depopulation have joined this trend that has begun in urban areas. The province of Zamora, and specifically the areas closest to the border with Portugal, is rich in this cultural heritage but has been losing inhabitants for decades. Following this argument and taking as an example the route through the historic cellars of Fermoselle promoted by the EGTC Duero-Douro, this article analyses the work carried out in this town in Zamora to find out the real number of cellars in the town centre, as well as their state of conservation, based on the last census, carried out by the Town Council in 1963. The study was carried out in the field through surveys and interviews with the municipality's population. The results allow us to affirm that Fermoselle has reasonable possibilities for economic development by promoting the enhancement of the value of its historic cellars through cooperation between the different economic agents based in the municipality and its region.