Tourism related entrepreneurship in rural areas : strategies for facilitation

Abstract

Rural societies in European Union countries are, in the majority of cases, going through a process of irreversible change, due in part to population exodus and economic depression, associated with the decline of traditional activities. In these areas, tourism is frequently advocated as a route for economic diversification. However, small scale, family owned and operating at a local level, rural tourism related SME´s appear to be at a disadvantage when facing the challenges of the global tourism industry. Consequently, over the last decades a diverse range and complex structure of policies have been developed both at the EU and national level, which, in some way or another, are concerned with stimulating and supporting tourism related entrepreneurship in rural areas. This paper reports on results of an EU funded research project, “Opportunities For and Barriers To Tourism-Led Integrated Development Within Rural Regions of Selected European States” (OPTOUR), and will reflect the views of two groups of stakeholders - rural tourism enterprises and the facilitators (governmental and non-governmental organisations) - concerning the existing strategies and their associated frameworks in relation to the process of tourism and regional development, as well as the range of elements that represent both the opportunities and barriers to the development of tourism in selected Portuguese rural areas.