2005 Dialogue

[planeta]

Today we officially begin the Rural Tourism Conference. Please introduce yourselves and your interests in this subject.

[Antonis]

Thank you Ron for organising a conference on this important topic.

Rural tourism, is primarily considered by policy makers as a possible but usually elusive, alternative source of income, for farmers, whereas, (and therein lies my own interest in it) rural tourism properly implemented, promoted, coordinated and monitored, can really contribute to regeneration and equitable development in backward areas, without necessarily sacrificing the environment and traditional culture.

I hope that participants of this conference can reach some agreement on rural tourism pitfalls and perhaps issue practical guidelines on how these can be avoided.

Antonis B. Petropoulos
Director, ECOCLUB S.A.
co-Sponsors of Rural Tourism Conference

[planeta]

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE -- Reminder: Chat later today (2pm GMT) on ECOCLUB
>> http://ecoclub.com/chat

[Mary Finn]

Hello All, and thanks to Ron, Antonis, and others for once again organizing an interesting and valuable virtual conference.

My name is Mary Finn, and my experience in Rural Tourism comes in part from my work with a rural community ecotourism operation, Santa Luc

[responda]

I would like to thank Ron and Planeta

[responda]

Hello everyone,

In my previous post I mentioned that I have written a paper about Rural Tourism in Mexico for this conference. Thanks to Jennifer Morfin in IMAC, I have posted it on the following link. As it is a working paper I would appreciate your feedback.

http://www.imacmexico.org/ev_es.php?ID= ... 2=DO_TOPIC

Saludos
Rodrigo Esponda

[Mary Finn]

Hola Everyone,

Some of you may have also seen the very exciting news about the confirmed sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

[Barbara Kastelein]

Hello everyone

This is Barbara Kastelein in Mexico City. I wondered if there is any consensus on what rural tourism is in Mexico (a question I see Planeta is posing), and which institutions teach tourism in a way that ecotourism gets a mention?

Recently I interviewed a park guide in Mexico State, a graduate in tourism from Toluca

[responda]

Hi again,

This is Rodrigo Esponda. Answering Ron

[Barbara Kastelein]

Hi there,

Thinking about Rodrigo

[Antonis]

Judging from the postings, so far, it is clear that Rural Tourism signifies many different things to different people, depending on their location, professional & recreational experience and interests.

I am neither a farmer who receives guests, nor a consultant wishing to advise such a farmer, nor a bureaucrat trying to defend existing (or non-existent) policies, nor a rural dweller, nor a travel writer promoting a specific area, so I can deal with Rural Tourism as an economic and social phenomenon, in a detached manner.

If one wishes to be a bit blunt about it, rural tourism is a polite way (in the same way that we find something good to say about someone who is rather ugly but good at heart.) of describing tourism in a peripheral, inhabited, partly natural area that has no sites of significant conventional tourism interest (good beaches, famous mountains, sites, antiquities), and where this laid-back absence becomes the attraction itself. Because in all other cases other names are used. For example you do not talk about Rural Tourism, to describe organised tours or independent visits to major archeological, cultural, religious, historic or conservation sites, which often happen to be located in a rural area. And few, apart from policy makers, speak about rural tourism by name (

[Guest]

Hi every body

My name is Jorge Alvarado and I work in Quito Ecuador where I run an online
marketing agency for travel companies -- http://www.e-traveltraffic.com

Ron kindly invited me to post some ideas about rural tourism as seen in
Ecuador. Reading a few of your posts, I need to ask whether developing rural
tourism is a new "panacea" to lessen rural migration to the cities.

Because one of your posts was very valuable to me, explaining how many of
the projects are owned by foreigners. I know only about 3 projects run by
local communities in Ecuador.

Is it time to increase the management and marketing skills to the leaders in
rural communities so they are running their own projects?

The operation of a hospitality facility and marketing of this location, must
be professional, the professional level and human workers can be reach by
the way of training and certification provided by international standards
and local certification procedures and training for the native community,
like I see in Costa Rica.

Could we create some kind of mechanism to develop and market effective rural
tourism starting in Ecuador and Latin America? There seems to be plenty of
interest on Planeta.com. Can we co-create an online training center for the
kind of professional management that a good rural tourism experience
requires?

Here in Ecuador I have a very good contact with the UCT a specialized
university in tourism, gastronomy and hospitality and it could work well for
that project. Any other contacts?

Ing. Jorge Alvarado info@e-traveltraffic.com

[Mary Finn]

First of all,

[planeta]

ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE -- Thanks again to everyone who took part in the Rural Tourism Conference. Today is the final official day of the event. That said, we will keep the dialogue/dialogo open over the weekend for final comments.

[planeta]

FINAL CHAT TOMORROW -- A final meeting to review lessons learned and prepare for future action will be held on ECOCLUB Tuesday 10 May at 14:00 GMT.
>> http://ecoclub.com/chat

DIRECTORY -- Please review the directory of participants and make sure that listings are accurate!
>> http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/ruralpart.html