Planeta Forum

[planeta]

How do YOU define 'rural tourism'?

REQUEST -- Comments about definitions are welcome in this topic.

REFERENCES

Definitions
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/definitions.html#Rural

Rural Tourism
http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/rural.html

[Antonis]

Rural tourism involves tourists witnessing or participating in activities that form the core of country life such as farming (synonyms: farm tourism, agrotourism /agritourism). Loosely defined it can encompass any activity that takes place in a non-urban, populated area. With farm incomes dwindling in many "developed", but also "developing" countries, and people migrating to cities or abroad, rural tourism is often seen by planners as a magic wand to stop rural decay.

[Victoria Mailhos]

Comparto plenamente lo escrito por Antonis.

En base a mi experiencia, infinitas definiciones y charlas, foros, discusiones, etc., presento aqui un resumen que suelo presentar en talleres a modo de provocar reflexiÛn. Considero que Èstos son los ingredientes que todo emprendedor relacionado debe tener en cuenta. Cada emprendimiento depende b·sicamente de los recursos naturales y/o culturales existentes en el lugar donde est· ubicado, y ello determina en gran medida el tipo de actividades realizables -turÌsticas y no turÌsticas-, por ende el o los tipos de turismo que puede ofrecer.
De este modo yo sit?o al ecoturismo como ingrediente opcional dentro del turismo rural, al contrario de muchos tÈcnicos que lo hacen al revÈs, considerando al turismo rural como un producto del ecoturismo.
Es que en realidad se ha marketineado mucho mejor el ecoturismo que las otras opciones, y ha terminado por liderar el movimiento en ese sentido.

Turismo - OMT - Comprende las actividades de las personas que viajan a - o est·n en - lugares fuera de su entorno habitual por m·s de un aÒo consecutivo por razones de trabajo, negocios, u otros.
Turismo Sostenible - Bruntland 1987 - Desarrollo sostenible es el que alcanza las necesidades del Presente sin comprometer a las futuras generaciones de alcanzar sus propias necesidades (Muntford and Munt)
GlobalizaciÛn - Mc Grew 1992 - "Por un lado, define el proceso o serie de procesos que toman lo m·s posible del globo o que opera a travÈs del Mundo: el concepto tiene una connotaciÛn espacial. PolÌticas y otras actividades sociales se "estiran" a travÈs del globo. Por otro lado, implica tambiÈn una intensificaciÛn de los niveles de interacciÛn, interconexiÛn o interdependencia entre los Estados y sociedades que constituyen la comunidad mundial. Entonces, con el "estiramiento" hay una "profundizaciÛn del impacto de los procesos globales en las comunidades nacionales y locales." Esto se refleja en la manera en que los paÌses del tercer mundo y sus comunidades se zambullen en el turismo.
Turismo Rural - OMT - Involucra alojamiento ofrecido en las estancias y plantaciones, en el casco o casa de huÈspedes separada, que proveen comidas y organizaciÛn de actividades para los huÈspedes en la observaciÛn y participaciÛn de actividades rurales. Algunos establecimientos ofrecen camping, permiten la pesca, caza, cabalgatas y excursiones en la propiedad. Se requiere asesoramiento tÈcnico para mantener la higiene, salud y est·ndares de seguridad. Requiere un sistema centralizado de reservas. Involucra tambiÈn las visitas por el dÌa a los establecimientos con producciÛn especÌfica (tÈ, viÒas), para observar y aprender sobre el proceso, aunque sin pernoctar.
Ecoturismo - Ecotourism Society - Tiene raÌces en la naturaleza y turismo al aire libre. El Ecoturismo es una amalgama de intereses ambientales, econÛmicos y sociales. Es un viaje responsable a ·reas naturales que conservan el ambiente y mejora el bienestar de la poblaciÛn local.
Ocio y Tiempo Libre - No es lo mismo Ocio que Tiempo Libre. Tiempo Libre son las horas no dedicadas al trabajo, pero de esas horas, poco tiempo es realmente LIBRE para hacer lo que uno quiere. Se diferencian en el sentido de la percepciÛn de libertad y control que uno tiene de ese tiempo libre.

Victoria Mailhos
Uruguay

[Barbara Kastelein]

Regarding Antonis' comment April 25:

"Rural tourism involves tourists witnessing or participating in activities that form the core of country life such as farming (synonyms: farm tourism, agrotourism /agritourism). Loosely defined it can encompass any activity that takes place in a non-urban, populated area. With farm incomes dwindling in many "developed", but also "developing" countries, and people migrating to cities or abroad, rural tourism is often seen by planners as a magic wand to stop rural decay."

Good simple definition. I think the farm aspect tends to come out ñ and therefore itís worth keeping this definition -- even though there is no reason why a loosely defined definition could n't simply encompass any tourism that is not urban tourism.

It seems there are more advances in RT as a tourism strategy in developed, as opposed to developing, countries, which therefore should offer plenty or experience and variations to serve as role models.

If itís often seen as a ìmagic wandî to stop rural decay, then this is alarming as it would lead to disappointments. I suppose therefore one needs success stories, and also criteria by which success would be measured, what concrete short term and long term aims are of setting up a rural tourism project, or even RT regional policy.

And re. Victoria Mailhos (April 2.

I understand her as saying: 1) What are the natural and cultural resources of a place?

2) These will determine the types of activities that can be carried out in the place (touristic and not touristic)

It leads me to think that we should be sure to be as flexible as possible as to what we consider tourist activity. For example, I am sure many tourism authorities might not have milking a cow or making a tortilla as a tourism activity.

/Once you have the contact of ìrural tourismî then maybe so, but this suggests that there could be many potential activities that are not yet thought of as touristic that could become so./

/In this case a list of ideas, based on other experiences (or whatever someone has ìalways wanted to doî in a rural area) would be helpful to help enterprises be as creative and wide ranging as possible./

Interesting that Victoria sees ecotourism as an optional ingredient within rural tourism, as opposed to the other way round. Quite convincing that ecotourism has been better marketed. I expect this is that it sounds more modern and has suited the needs of suppliers who want a new term to hang their products on. Also as it is marketed in Mexico, ecotourism embraces adventure tourism which (like ecotoruism / days out in the country) is nothing new, but has certainly been a market trend that has grown massively in the last 10 years.

In terms of what I imagine people think (and how promoters and marketeers orient themselves), rural tourism sounds a little staid and school-trip-ish which ìeco- and adventure tourismî as a package sounds young and trendy and where-itís-happening. Basically rural tourism is a lot less sexy.

A possible disadvantage of segmenting rural tourism inside ecotourism, as opposed to the other way round, is that current debates have led to the situation where eco-tourism is widely agreed to have a conservationist aspect. Rural tourism does not have this sustainability component / (or) ethical imperative even, to the same degree (Iíd hazard), beyond valuing rural areas, ie they are worth visiting as tourist attractions.

Since eco-tourism is the current buzzword, and is building up to be more coherent and responsible (in terms of use of the term) Iíd favor having this as the umbrella category (although I do not know how important this really is). Yet, I would highlight the role, and grand history, of rural tourism within ecotoruism ñ and push adventure tourism (which I think is the tricky one as currently marketed) out to the sidelines, or out of the category altogether if it has no sustainable or conservationist component.

I like the WTO definition of rural tourism as quoted by Victoria and think that could do with wider promotion.

I also like the potential issues raised in her brief mention of /ocio/ (I understood ìocioî in Spanish to mean idleness, but my dictionary offers: 1) spare time, leisure time, free time, as the first option and: 2) inactivity, idleness and tiempo libre, as the second) and /tiempo libre/.

These lead me to something I wanted to look at in the conference but didnít have time ñ a couple of books I have read on the anthropology of tourism which I think are helpful (tangentially, at least):

Valene Smithís _Hosts and Guests_ and John Urryís _The Tourist Gaze_.

The introduction to the former appears quite dated (first edition published 1977, but it wasnít changed in the second edition published in 1989) but is interesting for its typology of tourism (leisured mobility) into:

Ethnic tourism; Cultural Tourism; Historical Tourism; Environmental Tourism; and Recreational tourism.

Funnily enough, what we have been mainly looking at as ìrural tourismî comes under Smithís list as cultural tourism (while what we may call cultural tourism is what she calls historical tourism). Environmental tourism she sees as ìoften ancillary to ethnic tourismî and ìprimarily geographic.î Recreational tourism is probably the only category everyone would happily agree upon. She does not include either ecotoruism or rural tourism as categories.

Urry looks not only at the rise and fall of the seaside resort and the changing economics of the tourism industry (which are relevant to ecotourism and rural tourism) but also to ìcultural changes and the restructuring of tourismî and ìseeing and themingî in the tourism industry, in which he notes that holidays are ìnot so straightforwardly contrasted with learning and education as in the past. In many ways much tourism is more closely interwoven with learning.î

[planeta]

Rural Tourism Defined

According to Trav Info India:
http://www.travinfoindia.com/rural_india_travel.html

Rural tourism is "any form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations, thereby benefiting the local community economically and socially, as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the local community for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism. Rural tourism is essentially any activity which takes place in the countryside. It is multi-faceted and may entail farm or agricultural tourism and is experience oriented. The locations are predominantly in natural environments; they mesh with seasonality and local events and are based on preservation of culture, heritage and traditions."

Trav Info India explains that it focuses on rural tourism "since India's heart lies in its villages. Every rural community is steeped in folklore and indigenous craft. The traditional way of life will greatly enrich the visitor's experience. A visitor experience based on Rural Tourism is specially relevant for India where almost 74% of the population resides in its 7 million villages."