Advantages and Limits for Tourism Development in Rural Area (Case Study Ampoi and Mureş Valleys)
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Procedia Economics and Finance 32 ( 2015 ) 1050 – 1059 Emerging Markets Queries in Finance and Business Advantages and Limits for Tourism Development in Rural Area (Case Study Ampoi and MureúValleys) Gavrilă-Paven Ionelaa, Bârsan Mircea Constantinb, Lia-Dorica Dogaruc* a“1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, N. Iorga, No.11-13, Alba, Romania bLocal Group of Action from Ampoi and Mureú Valleys, VinĠu de Jos, Alba, Romania cEconomic Studies Academy, Bucharest, Romania Abstract Rural areas have been modified during centuries of agriculture practice and, in the last decades, of other economic activities like mineral extractions and processing industry, including also touristic activity. A challenge for ensuring sustainable development in rural areas is to cover the development needs of the community. Tourism has been indicated as a good development strategy for Romanian rural areas. The article is presenting the advantages and limits in supporting touristic activity in the framework of Leader approach at the level of a Local Group of Action in Romania, Alba and Hunedoara Counties. Leader approach is offering limited support for rural area in order to encourage cultural activities, architecture rehabilitation, valorizing natural landscape and rural tourism. Through its direct and indirect impacts, tourism attracts significant foreign exchange, investment and know-how and stimulates the local economy, with a significant multiplier effect on many other areas of the economy. In the same time, it has to be paid a great attention to the effects generated upon the rural communities by the tourists’ activities. Certainly, tourism development should be considered with all financial, material and human efforts that have to be done in order to support it. Tourism development in rural area should be strategically planned and its negative effects on nature and social-cultural environment of tourism areas should be limited. © 2015 Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license Selection(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and peer-review under responsibility). of the Emerging Markets Queries in Finance and Business local Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Asociatia Grupul Roman de Cercetari in Finante Corporatiste organization. Keywords: rural tourism; rural development; advantages and limits of tourism development; sustainable development. * Gavrilă-Paven Ionela, Tel.: +4-074-592-7639; fax: +4-025-880-6263. E-mail address: [email protected] 2212-5671 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Asociatia Grupul Roman de Cercetari in Finante Corporatiste doi: 10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01567-1 Gavrilă-Paven Ionela et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 32 ( 2015 ) 1050 – 1059 1051 1. Introduction and conceptual framework Tourism has an important role modifying rural communities in their environmental, economic, social and cultural structures, processes and dynamics. In this context rural tourism plays a primary role because the tourist has to move towards tourist destination in order to enjoy the product (F. Sgroi, A. M. Di Trapani, R. Testa, S. Tudisca; 2014). Tourism development depends on commercial, economic, and logistical issues, such as the quality of the product, accessibility and infrastructure of the destination, availability of skills, and interest of investors. In most of these aspects, rural areas may well be at a disadvantage compared to urbanised and more developed areas. Thus, tourism can play a significant role in rural economy growth and in developing rural standards (Holland J., Burian M., Dixey L.; 2003). Tourists are attracted to rural areas by their distinctive social and cultural heritage landscape qualities. So, the rural space can be threatened by the tourism impact and the recreational activity developed for tourists (Hall D.; 2004). Rural tourism is largely a domestic phenomenon with a disparate nature across countries and continents (Gao S.; 2009). The rural landscapes have always been influenced by the agricultural activity. The human permanence in rural areas exposed to risk factors (degradation, depopulation, poverty) can contribute to preservation of social values, to valorize the human, economic and environmental resources of the various rural communities, to qualify and to promote the image of these areas, increasing their attractive capacities and contributing to their development (Lanfranchi M., Giannetto C.; 2014). Tourism, especially rural tourism, is an important resource that has to be taken into consideration for developing rural areas. Rural tourism represents an opportunity for small farms that cannot compete with the conditions imposed by the globalization of markets (Goebel et al., 2012). Rural tourism has spread in many countries of central and northern Europe since the sixties of last century; instead in southern Europe it has developed in the following decade according to the European economic policies adopted to encourage the reduction of rural exodus and to promote the economic development of disadvantaged areas (F. Sgroi, A. M. Di Trapani, R. Testa, S. Tudisca; 2014). Rural tourism allows the rural areas to satisfy their growing interest in the context of preserving the natural heritage and rural culture. This can contribute to reduce the exodus of population from rural areas and to create job opportunities, promoting the socio-economic development of disadvantaged areas (Bulin, 2011). Rural tourism is referring to all types of activities carried out by tourists in rural areas (agritourism, direct sales in farm, educational farms) including the elements related to traditions, culture and hospitality of the people from rural villages. So, rural tourism is expressed through visits to the farms, explanation on the crop cultivation methods, tasting of agrifood products and all those forms directly related to the resources of rural areas (Brunori et al., 2009). In Europe, farm tourism plays an important role in rural tourism. In some rural areas in East Germany (Wittow, Island of Rügen), 80% of accommodation is provided by working farms or farms that have been converted to accommodation facilities. In African rural areas there are some commercial guest farms and the emerging equivalent of home stays in traditional huts. There is evidence that farm tourism generates proportionately higher benefits than other tourism using purpose-built accommodation in a similar area (Holland J., Burian M., Dixey L.; 2003). Poland’s experience since the early 1990s provides a case in point: rural farm-based tourism was seen as a cheap form of tourism that would utilise existing spare capacities in farm houses and small, unsophisticated catering facilities (McMahon F.; 1996). This was a high investment burden for generally small-scale farmers. Furthermore, marketing costs and the set-up of marketing networks coordinating a large number of small-scale entrepreneurs were added expenditures that were initially not foreseen. As a consequence farm tourism was far from a cheap option as was initially thought (Holland J., Burian M., Dixey L.; 2003). Tourism has an important role in modifying rural communities in their environmental, economic, social and cultural structures, processes and dynamics (Theodoropoulou H., Kaldis P., 2008; Andereck K. et al., 2005). 1052 Gavrilă-Paven Ionela et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 32 ( 2015 ) 1050 – 1059 Tourism largely contributes to the formation of places, fostering reconfiguration and restructuring processes that tend to create new rural opportunities in function of services it provides to the society as a whole satisfying demands, needs and desires of tourists (Figueiredo E., 2011; Crouch D., 2006). “Rural tourism is a factor for rural areas development” – stated Suzanne Thibal, EUROTER general secretary: “Rural tourism is a social development factor, it improves the living standards, it maintains crafts, it sustains the agricultural production, it opens spirits and makes mentalities evolve ”. European Union has identified rural tourism as a priority for the rural space development. In the new financial framework for 2014- 2020, family farms and small farms are being the solution for rural space revival. In this conditions, supporting rural tourism as an alternative activity represents an opportunity for development of rural areas and preserving the traditions, culture and activities practiced in these areas. Specialized studies, realized by Tourism World Organization, had identified the key megatrends in tourism for 2020: (1) increasing the number of tourists concerned about environmental issues; (2) increasing demand for new destinations; (3) increasing the number of shorter vacations; (4) increasing number of older people that are more active and willing to travel; (5) becoming more experienced and sophisticated travelers, that are expecting high quality attractions, facilities and services as appropriate tariffs and quality in their travels. In this framework rural space is the perfect