Rural tourism is a form of tourism that focuses on actively participating in a rural lifestyle. Activities in rural tourism often promote local agricultural or fishing practices, art, culture, heritage, and other aspects of local life. It can be a variant of ecotourism, which engages tourists with the local environment, often focusing on sustainable practices, conservation management and environmental education.
Rural tourism activities contribute to rural community development by providing economic benefits, creating new employment opportunities for local residents, supporting local businesses and providing revenue for the government. In developed nations, rural tourism can play a significant role in local economies. In the United States, niche tourism programs such as wine tours, agritourism, and seasonal events are prominent in rural areas.
Global rural tourism organizations showcase an existing interest among tourists to visit rural areas and experience the rural lifestyle. World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a global organization that promotes sustainable agriculture. It connects volunteers with organic farms, providing them with opportunities to live on site and learn about sustainable farming practices.
Community-based ecotourism (CBE) is a model that requires community involvement, prioritizing collaboration with local communities during the planning process and active management of ecotourism sites. Organizations like TIES promote sustainable practices that benefit both hosts and tourists.
Relevance in developed nations United States Many niche tourism programs are located in rural areas. From wine tours and eco-tourism, to agritourism and seasonal events, tourism can be a viable economic component in rural community development. According to the USDA, Cooperative State, Education and Extension Service, "Tourism is becoming increasingly important to the U.S. economy. A conservative estimate from the Federal Reserve Board in Kansas, based on 2000 data, shows that basic travel and tourism industries accounted for 3.6 percent of all U.S. employment. Even more telling, data from the Travel Industry Association of America indicate that 1 out of every 18 people in the U.S. has a job directly resulting from travel expenditures." "Rural Tourism" (February 2008). USDA Cooperative State, Education and Extension Service. Retrieved December 30, 2008. Wilkerson, Chad (2003). "Travel and Tourism: An Overlooked Industry in the U.S. and Tenth District." Economic Review, Third Quarter 2003. Federal Reserve Board in Kansas. Retrieved December 30, 2008. "Economic Research: Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism." (2004). Travel Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
The publication Promoting Tourism in Rural America John, Patricia LaCaille (2008). Promoting Tourism in Rural America. National Agricultural Library, Rural Information Center. Retrieved December 30, 2008. explains the need for planning and marketing rural communities, as well as weighing the pros and cons of the impacts of tourism. Local citizen participation is helpful and should be included in starting any kind of a tourism program. Being prepared when planning tourism can assist in a successful program that enhances the community.
Israel
Rural tourism in Israel has experienced significant growth since the late 1980s, becoming an important economic activity in rural areas. Initially, this growth was driven by farmers seeking alternative sources of income due to declining agricultural profits. The industry now includes thousands of accommodation units spread across numerous villages, including semi-cooperatives (Moshavim) and collectives (Kibbutzim). These accommodations range from basic converted buildings to luxurious log cabins equipped with modern amenities. This diversification has attracted a steady stream of domestic tourists, making rural tourism a substantial contributor to the local economy.
Government support has been crucial to the development of rural tourism in Israel. The Israel Ministry of Tourism began its support in the early 1990s, and today, both the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture, along with various non-governmental organizations, play a role in sustaining the industry.
Community ecotourism The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people."The International Ecotourism Society. 2014. Online. http://www.ecotourism.org TIES is an example of a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting companies in developing ecotourism practices and promoting sustainable community development. Ecotourism provides an alternative form of travel to mass tourism. Mass tourism is the idea of visiting a place with minimal responsibility to the local community and environment.Alomari, Thabit. Motivation and Socio-Cultural Sustainability of Voluntourism. M.A. University of Lethbridge (Canada), 2012 Canada. Tourism, the world's largest industry of more than 10% of total employment and 11% of global GDP, is also a quickly growing industry as "total tourist trips are predicted to increase to 1.6 billion by 2020".Rajan, Brilliant, Vincy Mary Varghese, and Anakkathil Purushothaman Pradeepkumar. "Beach Carrying Capacity Analysis for Sustainable Tourism Development in the South West Coast of India." Environmental Research, Engineering, and Management, 2013. 1(63): 67-73. In order to accommodate these rising needs in the tourism industry, there must be a shift within this industry. One in particular is the need to protect the environment and respect the local culture.
According to the World Tourism Organization, ecotourism is growing three times faster than the tourism industry.Cox, Rachel S. "Ecotourism." CQ Researcher 16.37 (2006): 865-88. This implies the already changing phenomenon occurring in traveling. Similarly, the World Conservation Union goes one step further in defining ecotourism to include enjoying and appreciating nature, have low negative visitor impact, and providing socio-economic involvement to the local populations.Lindsay, Heather. "Ecotourism: the Promise and Perils of Environmentally-Oriented Travel." ProQuest. February 2003. Online. As ecotourism is growing, it is also focusing on especially vulnerable locations to climate change. In a neoliberalism theory, ecotourism is a win-win for both the host and tourist. This is because there is an effort for conservation when jobs are available outside of activities such as logging that harm the environment and the intrinsic value of the environment is taken into consideration. Additionally, ecotourism enhances social capital for both the host and tourist when engaging in social interaction and learning about other cultures.
However, because ecotourism is most popular in vulnerable environments, it may unintentionally exploit the community causing a serious social justice issue. The idea of community ecotourism is placing the tourism activities in the hands of the local community. It addresses the needs of the tourism businesses to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts in all three parts of the community – social, economic, and environmental.Li, Yiping. "Situated Learning, Responsible Tourism, and Global Peace." Peace Research 30.4 (1998): 83-100. Community ecotourism resolves one issue with ecotourism in particular, the input of the community hosting the tourism. Governments and outside agencies have pushed communities into hosting tourists which can sometimes cause more harm if the community is not prepared without relevant knowledge, leadership, or capacity.Moscardo, G. Building Community Capacity for Tourism Development. Wallingford, Oxon, GBR: CABI Publishing, 2008. . ebrary. An example of such occurrence is in Montego Bay in which international organizations brought tourists to already westernized sites, which harmed this degraded environment.West, Paige, James G. Carrier, 2004. Ecotourism and Authenticity: Getting Away from It All? Current Anthropology. 45(4): 483 – 498. Another example is the case of Papua New Guinea's Crater Mountain. Setting aside their ethnic tension, the clans planned a tourist lodge for two years that the government denied in five minutes. The lack of collusion among the local clans and the government created tension and failure for all parties. With community ecotourism, the community itself primarily sees the venture to success and receives the economic benefit, rather than government or third party organizations.
As a whole, the rise in demand of tourism to exotic places as they become more accessible provides an opportunity for vulnerable and economically impoverished communities. In traditional tourism, these communities are often exploited and their resources depleted. It also includes the social inequities when considering the power in the host–guest relationship.Jones, Samantha. "COMMUNITY-BASED ECOTOURISM: The Significance of Social Capital." Annals of Tourism Research 32.2 (2005): 303-24. Community ecotourism empowers the relationship of the host and guest so that both can learn from a different culture and how to maneuver such differences.Pantea, Maria-Carmen. "Young People in Cross-National Volunteering: Perceptions of Unfairness." Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.30 (August 2013): 564-681. When addressed properly, equitable relationships blossom in the national and global sphere. Unlike traditional tourism, this alternative tourism experience enables people to engage positively in the community's way of life and learn how they interact with the environment. Community ecotourism can act as a solution to social justice issues that arise with the tourism industry in respect to the economy, environment, and culture.
Benefits of community ecotourism Generally, success is the benefits outweighing the costs. A more concrete measure of success for ecotourism is ensuring that the tourism industry operates within the location's capacity to handle such activities in the three areas of ecotourism – economy, environment, and culture. One such form of capacity is economic capacity so that the tourism industry does not displace sustainable local economic activity already in place. Additionally, there is an environmental carrying capacity, the limit at which the environment is not degraded from tourism. This is especially important as many ecotourism locations are in locations vulnerable to climate change, such as along the coast. There is also the idea of cultural capacity in which the tourism industry remains authentic and can maintain local practices. With addressing these three capacity measures, many problems mass tourism places on the host community are resolved.
Economic