<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article questions where and how rural tourism (with special focus on small scale village tourism) that is often focused on in rural development initiatives can contribute to rural development in the light of the OECD’s ‘new rural paradigm’. For this purpose theoretical findings from research about tourism and factors of success of rural development processes are combined and reflected against findings of empirical research conducted in five eastern German rural regions. It is shown that although tourism might, in the majority of rural regions, induce only small economic impacts - which indicate failure as a factor for regional development - it can cause important non-economic implications. Thus, even in regions not suitable for tourism, tourism can function as a vehicle for rural development. Thereby it is important to develop a suitable strategy and consider the specific regional situation and potentials of success.</p></abstract>

The article questions where and how rural tourism (with special focus on small scale village tourism) that is often focused on in rural development initiatives can contribute to rural development in the light of the OECD’s ‘new rural paradigm’. For this purpose theoretical findings from research about tourism and factors of success of rural development processes are combined and reflected against findings of empirical research conducted in five eastern German rural regions. It is shown that although tourism might, in the majority of rural regions, induce only small economic impacts - which indicate failure as a factor for regional development - it can cause important non-economic implications. Thus, even in regions not suitable for tourism, tourism can function as a vehicle for rural development. Thereby it is important to develop a suitable strategy and consider the specific regional situation and potentials of success.

Rural Tourism As Promoter Of Rural Development – Prospects And Limitations: Case Study Findings From A Pilot Projectpromoting Village Tourism

Institute for Rural Studies, The Thünen Institute, German Federal Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Bundesallee 50, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany

European Countryside

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The article questions where and how rural tourism (with special focus on small scale village tourism) that is often focused on in rural development initiatives...

Rural Tourism As Promoter Of Rural Development – Prospects And Limitations: Case Study Findings From A Pilot Projectpromoting Village Tourism

Published Online: Dec 30, 2014

Page range: 270 - 296

Received: Apr 02, 2014

Accepted: Sep 26, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2014-0015

© by Kim Pollermann

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.