GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OCDE/GD(94)49 TOURISM STRATEGIES AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Paris 1994 013927 Copyright OECD, 1994 2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION............................................................... 4 I. RURAL TOURISM DEFINED -- THE RELATIONSHIO BETWEEN TOURISM AND AGRICULTURE..................................................... 5 1. The Case for Rural Tourism....................................... 6 2. But What is Rural Tourism?....................................... 7 3. What is Rurality?................................................ 8 4. Rural Population Densities and Settlement Size................... 8 5. Selected National Criteria for "Rural" Settlements............... 8 6. Land Use......................................................... 9 7. "Traditional" Social Structures.................................. 10 8. The Characteristics of "Rural" and "Urban" Societies............. 10 9. The Continuum Concept............................................ 11 10. Rural Tourism: A Concept for Development and Conservation....... 13 11. The Importance of the Continuum -- Concept for Rural Tourism..... 14 12. What Types of Holidays are Rural?................................ 15 13. The Relationship Between Tourism and Agriculture................. 16 II. RURAL TOURISM: ITS GROWTH, ITS MARKET -- PROMISES AND PROBLEMS..... 19 1. Why has Rural Tourism Grown?..................................... 19 2. The Size of the Market........................................... 21 3. What Can Rural Tourism Contribute to Rural Development?.......... 22 4. Rural Tourism: The Problems..................................... 26 3 III. MANAGING RURAL TOURISM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT........................ 31 1. Can Tourism Strategies Solve the Rural Regeneration Question?.... 31 2. But Can -- and Should -- Rural Tourism be Managed?............... 31 3. The Evolution of Rural Tourism Management........................ 32 4. Issues to be Addressed if Sustainable Rural Tourism is to be Promoted Succesfully.................................... 33 5. Pre-requisites Before Discussion can Begin....................... 33 6. Key Issues to be Solved in Practice.............................. 35 IV. FUTURE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES.......................... 39 1. Market Information............................................... 39 2. How Best to Relate to Markets.................................... 40 3. Benefit Assessment and Enhancement............................... 40 4. Management, Control and Operational Issues....................... 41 5. Sustainability Indicators........................................ 42 6. Training......................................................... 43 7. Community Involvement and Community/Industry Co-operation........ 44 8. Agency Intervention in Rural Tourism Development................. 44 9. International Co-operation....................................... 45 10. Best or Bad Practice Assessment.................................. 45 APPENDIX A EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR RURAL TOURISM...................... 46 APPENDIX B A CATEGORISED BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................... 50 4 INTRODUCTION Since its creation in 1961, the OECD Tourism Committee has endeavoured to grasp the overriding trends, including structural change, in the tourism, travel and recreation industry, to give governments a clearer understanding of their role and of how they must tailor their action. Accordingly, in 1987 the Committee began to probe how tourism strategies could contribute to rural development. Since 1990, this examination has been carried out within the broader context of the OECD Group of the Council on Rural Development, following the wish of the Council at its 1990 meeting at Ministerial level. For many years a number of rural areas have been beset by population loss and declining services. These problems are now exacerbated by changes that have brought job losses and falling income to the farm sector. In contrast to this downturn, tourism has blossomed into a prosperous, fast-growing activity, and has indeed turned out to be a significant factor for economic growth in the countries in which it has developed. It was therefore important to determine whether tourism’s growth potential could be harnessed as a strategy for rural development, in particular by drawing upon resurgent interest in the countryside, its traditional way of life, and landscapes and the architectural heritage, referred to as amenities. The Tourism Committee devoted several of its sessions to these issues, undertaking in particular to ascertain, in the light of national experience, whether rural tourism had any distinguishing characteristics, whether it could develop in all rural areas, whether it was truly capable of generating employment and attracting capital to such areas, whether it presented drawbacks for the countryside and whether it required action on the part of national or local governments. With the help of Mr. Bernard Lane (Director of the Rural Tourism Unit at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom), and in co-operation with the Secretariat of the Group of the Council on Rural Development, the Secretariat of the Tourism Committee summarised this examination. The results were analysed in a chapter of the 1993 annual report on Tourism Policy and International Tourism, which the OECD Council made publicly available on 28 February 1994. That chapter has been taken from the report and supplemented by a bibliography, and is now reproduced in this general distribution document. 5 I. RURAL TOURISM DEFINED -- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOURISM AND AGRICULTURE Across the rural regions of the developed world the issues of population decline, economic change and community regeneration are universal. For over a century, the powerful trends of industrialisation and urbanisation have steadily altered the economic and political position of rural society. In the last 40 years those trends have intensified. Farm incomes have fallen in real terms. Technological changes have joined with falling incomes to reduce agricultural employment. In response, rural service provision has diminished: shops, schools, churches, professional services and transport facilities have all declined in numbers and in underlying vitality. Typically, rural populations have aged and become fewer in total. Many small towns and villages now struggle to retain their viability. Throughout the world, local, regional and central government agencies have intervened to address these issues, with various degrees of success. In recent years, the rural world has seen new challenges. Nature and landscape conservation is increasingly regarded as important. Historic buildings and "traditional" rural societies are receiving more attention. In some more accessible rural regions, there has been an influx of population, of people unhappy about big city living conditions -- a trend known as counter- urbanisation. But for most parts of the countryside, rural decline issues remain important. Tourism on the contrary, presents a picture of thriving growth. From humble origins in the nineteenth century, tourism has expanded rapidly since the early 1950’s. International tourist arrivals have increased from 25 millions in 1950 to an estimated 476 millions in 1992. About 60 per cent of this travel is for leisure purposes. Domestic (non-international) tourism, however, dwarfs even these massive figures. The World Tourism Organization estimates domestic travel numbers to be ten times the international total. Domestic tourism is also growing rapidly. The WTO estimates that, by 2000, tourism could be the world’s largest single industry. There are many factors behind the growth statistics. In the developed world, there has been a rapid growth in disposable income. In Britain whose economic growth in recent years has not been very strong disposable income rose by 63 per cent in real terms between 1968 and 1988. Shorter working hours and increasing numbers of paid holidays have helped. Higher levels of education have prompted a greater desire to travel, and explore. Transport networks -- rail, road, air and sea -- have been greatly improved. Rarely, however, have government agencies directly influenced the pace of tourism development, which has largely been driven by market forces and private enterprise. In this way, tourism differs markedly from agriculture and other rural activities. 6 Tourism has, until recently, been concentrated into specialist beach, lake and mountain resort areas, and into major cultural centres. It has proved to be a powerful engine for economic growth -- transferring capital, income and employment from industrial, urban and developed areas to non-industrial regions. Intra OECD tourism flows dominate the world pattern. The top five tourist generating countries -- Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Japan and France -- account for over 51 per cent of world travel expenditure. Income flows are remarkably similar: the top five destination countries, accounting for 41 per cent of receipts, are the United States, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom (1987 figures). Within that picture there have been real changes in the post war period. Foremost amongst the new destinations is Spain. Foreign visitors to Spain increased from 6 millions in 1960 to 47 millions in 1986. Foreign earnings more than doubled -- (to 15 billion US dollars) -- between 1983 and 1987 alone. Tourism now employs over 1.5 million Spanish people directly.