Elasticity of demand

24/02/2001 Economics and Structural Development in Rural Areas
Noemí Martínez Meco
María Esteban Gajero

PARK AND WATERINTERPRETATION CENTER “ALMONACID DE ZORITA”

Almonacid de Zorita is a small village of nearly 900 inhabitants located in a rural area of Guadalajara (Spain). Thanks to the proximity to the river Tajo theeconomy of this village has been almost just based on agriculture. In the 20 Th century this village improved its economics due to a reservoir construction. This fact involved an increase of labourand population, as well as a service improvement. However, the development of new infrastructures in nearby villages caused a fall into disuse of this reservoir. This fact led the return to the economybased on agriculture, a rural depopulation and a deterioration of settlement structures.
In recent years the Spanish government has given subsidies for the development of new projects in rural areasso the town council of Almonacid de Zorita decided to take advantage of these subsidies in order to developing this project.

The main objective of this project was by the renovation of a old andhistoric building create a modern space, based on the natural and cultural values of the water, in order to stimulate the knowledge about the water and other natural resources and attract newvisitors to this rural area.
All the leisure activities of this new center will be destined to all the population, even though there will be more specific activities for student groups.
Despite of thefact that the project was developed by a private enterprise the whole project was managed by the town council of Almonacid de Zorita and all the row materials were provided by local suppliers.
Thetotal investment of the government in this project was 400.000 €. This amount of money was always managed by a team of the council town.

Furthermore, the council town of Almonacid de Zorita set...