The current publication highlights how UNWTO member states see the role that tourism holds in promoting rural development, including the challenges and opportunities, as well as the main policies and instruments existing in their countries. The current findings have been compiled from a survey among UNWTO member states which was carried out between October 2022 and January 2023. The results shown in this publication refer to the 79 countries responding to the survey.
The importance of tourism for rural development
Rural tourism is considered a priority for the majority of UNWTO members that responded to the survey. A total of 47 countries (59%) stated that rural tourism is a priority for them while another 29 (37%) consider it an indirect priority whereby countries are developing policies for the sustainable development and management of community-based tourism (CBT). Notably, this specific form of tourism is linked to rural tourism as most of the CBT experiences, products and services are in remote areas.
Rural tourism is a priority for the countries that responded to the survey for several reasons including the fact that it is commonly recognized as a means for rural and sustainable development. Responses highlighted that tourism in rural areas can have a positive impact through benefit-sharing mechanisms along the tourism value chain. Nonetheless, only 20% of the countries surveyed have specific policies and support systems for rural tourism. In comparison, non-specific efforts were applied by almost three quarters of countries surveyed where rural tourism is included in policies and support mechanisms whose principle subject matter relates to another form of tourism e.g., CBT or ecotourism.
In this regard, the specific policy mechanisms that are most common are public investment programmes for rural tourism, present in 22 countries (28%), followed by specific plans or policies for rural tourism, present in 16 countries (20%) that responded to the survey.
Rural tourism policies, either specific or more broadly related, focus mainly on the development and diversification of tourism products and services, the improvement of infrastructure and support services, education and capacity building and the engagement, empowerment and governance of local communities in working towards achieving sustainability.
Challenges and opportunities
According to the survey, the biggest challenge for rural development through tourism is the infrastructure gap in rural areas. Deficiencies in roads, ports, airports and other infrastructure that allow access to rural areas was the top-ranked challenge for the surveyed countries. The remote nature of many rural areas, alongside difficult terrain conditions amplifies this limitation.
The second highest ranked challenge relates to population and economy, especially depopulation in rural areas as a result of migration to urban regions. Seasonality and product competitiveness add to this challenge, increasing the instability of rural businesses which, in part, prevents the retention of population and human resources.
In this sense, the lack of education and training, as well as skills development, in addition to the capacity to attract and retain workforce talent, were listed in the survey as the third most significant challenge. The existence of training programmes concentrated in cities or larger populations makes it difficult for rural populations to access these opportunities.
Other top-ranked challenges include limitations in accessing or managing financial systems; restrictions in the development of innovative tourism products in rural areas; adverse impacts to and degradation of natural resources; and limitations in handling data, information and knowledge management.
Economic and social-related topics were two of the most frequently recognized opportunities brought by tourism to rural development. Within this spectrum, the creation of new jobs, the improvement of livelihoods and the fighting of depopulation in rural areas were commonly mentioned. Following on from this were opportunities linked to the conservation and promotion of cultural and natural resources.
When asked about the status of rural tourism in the next decade, 47% of the countries responded to the survey foreseeing that rural tourism will be “much better than now”, paired with 49% of responses expecting it to be “better than now”. In total, 96% of all responding countries envision a better outlook for rural tourism in the upcoming decade.
Understanding rural tourism
There is a high consensus among the countries surveyed about UNWTO’s definition of rural tourism. A total of 56 (71%) of the 79 member states answering the survey agreed with the proposed definition. The other 21 countries (27%) agreed to complement it with comments underlining the importance of a wider spectrum of rural related activities and community- based management models.
Overall, data on rural tourism is still scarce with wide variations in terms of the frequency of data availability and areas covered in addition to the methods used for collection and analysis. Nevertheless, 63% of countries have at least one type of statistics related to rural tourism where the most reported areas include total site visits, overnight stays, and occupancy rate.
Financial and technical limitations are the main reasons behind the scarce availability of rural tourism statistics. In total, 47 countries (59%) stated that the main challenge was the limited budget assigned to this area, closely followed by a lack of available technologies for gathering, processing and analyzing data (44 countries, 56%).
The current publication highlights how UNWTO member states see the role that tourism holds in promoting rural development, including the challenges and opportunities, as well as the main policies and instruments existing in their countries. The current findings have been compiled from a survey among UNWTO member states which was carried out between October 2022 and January 2023. The results shown in this publication refer to the 79 countries responding to the survey.
The importance of tourism for rural development
Rural tourism is considered a priority for the majority of UNWTO members that responded to the survey. A total of 47 countries (59%) stated that rural tourism is a priority for them while another 29 (37%) consider it an indirect priority whereby countries are developing policies for the sustainable development and management of community-based tourism (CBT). Notably, this specific form of tourism is linked to rural tourism as most of the CBT experiences, products and services are in remote areas.
Rural tourism is a priority for the countries that responded to the survey for several reasons including the fact that it is commonly recognized as a means for rural and sustainable development. Responses highlighted that tourism in rural areas can have a positive impact through benefit-sharing mechanisms along the tourism value chain. Nonetheless, only 20% of the countries surveyed have specific policies and support systems for rural tourism. In comparison, non-specific efforts were applied by almost three quarters of countries surveyed where rural tourism is included in policies and support mechanisms whose principle subject matter relates to another form of tourism e.g., CBT or ecotourism.
In this regard, the specific policy mechanisms that are most common are public investment programmes for rural tourism, present in 22 countries (28%), followed by specific plans or policies for rural tourism, present in 16 countries (20%) that responded to the survey.
Rural tourism policies, either specific or more broadly related, focus mainly on the development and diversification of tourism products and services, the improvement of infrastructure and support services, education and capacity building and the engagement, empowerment and governance of local communities in working towards achieving sustainability.
Challenges and opportunities
According to the survey, the biggest challenge for rural development through tourism is the infrastructure gap in rural areas. Deficiencies in roads, ports, airports and other infrastructure that allow access to rural areas was the top-ranked challenge for the surveyed countries. The remote nature of many rural areas, alongside difficult terrain conditions amplifies this limitation.
The second highest ranked challenge relates to population and economy, especially depopulation in rural areas as a result of migration to urban regions. Seasonality and product competitiveness add to this challenge, increasing the instability of rural businesses which, in part, prevents the retention of population and human resources.
In this sense, the lack of education and training, as well as skills development, in addition to the capacity to attract and retain workforce talent, were listed in the survey as the third most significant challenge. The existence of training programmes concentrated in cities or larger populations makes it difficult for rural populations to access these opportunities.
Other top-ranked challenges include limitations in accessing or managing financial systems; restrictions in the development of innovative tourism products in rural areas; adverse impacts to and degradation of natural resources; and limitations in handling data, information and knowledge management.
Economic and social-related topics were two of the most frequently recognized opportunities brought by tourism to rural development. Within this spectrum, the creation of new jobs, the improvement of livelihoods and the fighting of depopulation in rural areas were commonly mentioned. Following on from this were opportunities linked to the conservation and promotion of cultural and natural resources.
When asked about the status of rural tourism in the next decade, 47% of the countries responded to the survey foreseeing that rural tourism will be “much better than now”, paired with 49% of responses expecting it to be “better than now”. In total, 96% of all responding countries envision a better outlook for rural tourism in the upcoming decade.
Understanding rural tourism
There is a high consensus among the countries surveyed about UNWTO’s definition of rural tourism. A total of 56 (71%) of the 79 member states answering the survey agreed with the proposed definition. The other 21 countries (27%) agreed to complement it with comments underlining the importance of a wider spectrum of rural related activities and community- based management models.
Overall, data on rural tourism is still scarce with wide variations in terms of the frequency of data availability and areas covered in addition to the methods used for collection and analysis. Nevertheless, 63% of countries have at least one type of statistics related to rural tourism where the most reported areas include total site visits, overnight stays, and occupancy rate.
Financial and technical limitations are the main reasons behind the scarce availability of rural tourism statistics. In total, 47 countries (59%) stated that the main challenge was the limited budget assigned to this area, closely followed by a lack of available technologies for gathering, processing and analyzing data (44 countries, 56%).
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