Any research design which confronts a problem detected in a specific social and/or environmental context generally faces a double challenge: the need to offer plausible explanations that will establish the merit of the initiative undertaken; and the scientific contemplation of the proposed research, supported by a consistent theoretical-methodical framework. These two premises were taken as the basis for conducting the approach which follows, the aim of which is to present, firstly, a picture of the municipal (and by extension, regional) expectations of tourism development, within their areas of scope. The expression tourism alternatives is adopted wherever opportune, bearing in mind that many of the facts and realities shown and discussed, are done so from the perspective of an alternative tourism in relation to conventional tourism. Secondly, within a concept of the tourism offer in the context of the tourism system (BENI, 2000), it seeks to emphasize the importance of occurrences of nature and cultural manifestations as essential components of the tourism heritage. At the heart of this focus, this work analyzes the merit that qualifies them as potential tourism attractions and as fundamental factors for making tourism alternatives viable, within the scope of municipal and regional development, particularly alternatives such as ecotourism, tourism in rural areas and adventure tourism. Key Words: Tourism Alternatives; Tourism Municipal Districts; Ecotourism; Tourism in Rural Areas.