Rural development policies in Spain have been based essentially in the European programs LEADER and PRODER. In particular, the rural tourism sector has been one of the main beneficiaries from local development policies. Beginning with an analysis of the changes that have taken place in the rural environment in the last few years, the article evaluates the efficiency of those policies in dynamizing and diversifying the rural environment.

Public policies in the rural sector in Spain have been scarce, discontinuous and uneven. For years, the rural environment has been deprived of its resources and habitants, due to rural exodus. National rural development policies have been derived mostly of the European programs LEADER and PRODER, which have supported several projects related to rural tourism (28,2% of the total). In this context, some medium and small urban areas can use natural and cultural tourism as a kind of urban development tool in order to beat demographic trends.

The rural environment in Spain is suffering an intense transformation, due to generational changes and European policies in this field. Rural tourism has been a potent local dynamizer, but is not the big solution to the problems faced by the Spanish rural environment; it is necessary to provide the rural space with integrated development instruments, with transversal and multidirectional policies that revalue the land and its inhabitants.

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Grupo de Investigación TER (Turismo en Espacio Rural)
Spain
http://seneca.uab.es/ter/
Gemma Cànoves

12/11/2006

12/11/2006

Gemma Cànoves, Montserrat Villarino and Luís Herrera

research

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Specific sectors