Limitations of Rural Tourism as an Economic Diversification and Regional Development Instrument. The Case Study of the Region of La Vera

In the mid-1980s, at the same time as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms resulted in a decrease in agricultural employment, the Single European Act transformed the reduction of regional differences into an objective of European regional policy. The LEADER Initiative and the PRODER Program...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2019-06, Vol.11 (12), p.3309
Main Authors: Castellano-Álvarez, Francisco Javier, del Río-Rama, María de la Cruz, Álvarez-García, José, Durán-Sánchez, Amador
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Case studies
Common Agricultural Policy
Diversification
Economic diversification
Economics
Information sources
Initiatives
Qualitative research
Regional development
Regional planning
Rural areas
Rural development
Rural tourism
Social capital
Sociology
Sustainability
Tourism
Viability
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Summary:In the mid-1980s, at the same time as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms resulted in a decrease in agricultural employment, the Single European Act transformed the reduction of regional differences into an objective of European regional policy. The LEADER Initiative and the PRODER Program were two of the instruments chosen by the European Commission to deal with the effects that these new challenges would have for the rural environment. This research studies the scope and limitations of these programs. For this, we analyzed their implementation, resorting to the case study of the region of La Vera, Extremadura (Spain). The results show that although the structure of these programs is consistent with the purpose of developing and diversifying rural economies, their application must overcome a number of risks, including an excessive concentration of investments in the tourism sector, which stands out from the rest. In addition to highlighting the limitations of tourism as an axis of development, this research detects some aspects that should be taken into account when implementing these programs.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su11123309