Rural tourism in Spain

Abstract

The paper describes the rapid recent growth in rural tourism facilities in Spain and attempts to account for the regional variations that exist. The range of activities involved in rural tourism is described and a significant trend towards the development of 'active' leisure pursuits in rural areas is identified. This clearly implies a major change in the use of the countryside, albeit in specific locations, but therefore calls into question the assertion of some scholars that rural restructuring is not a feature of contemporary Spain. In assessing the wider impact of rural tourism policies as part of overall rural development, however, it is clear that the main beneficiaries are not necessarily local residents.

Validation of a market orientation adoption scale in rural tourism enterprises. Relationship between the characteristics of the enterprise and extent of market orientation adoption

“…For service companies, the key criterion as regards their location is that they are usually based close to their potential clients (Kotler et al, 2005: 23-40). However, in the tourism sphere, the location of these enterprises is based on the appeal and the potential of the tourist destination as the place to undertake tourism activities (Barke, 2004). In other words, the nature of this tourism activity means that these enterprises are located far from their clients who, what is more, are spread far and wide, both nationally and internationally (Hall, 2004).…”

Trends and seasonal variation of tourist demand in Spain: The role of rural tourism

“…This definition is the same as that provided by the European Community (Farmaki, 2012). There is not a consistent definition of rural tourism in the case of Spain (Barke, 2004). Table 1 shows a sample of the many existing definitions.…”

“…There are many types of rural tourism activities present in different localities in Spain (Barke, 2004). …”

An approach to measuring website quality in the rural tourism industry based on atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy sets

“…In many rural areas in Serbia tourism has been recognized as one of the important segments that should ensure their sustainable economic development; this being the case with similar areas in other countries [3], [7], [9], [16], [17], [40], [41], [42]. One of these areas is Timocka Krajina (Timok frontier) located in eastern Serbia, on the border with Bulgaria and Romania.…”