Rural tourism and the challenge of tourism diversification: the case of Cyprus
Rural tourism has long been considered a means of achieving economic and social development and regeneration. More specifically, it has been widely promoted as an effective source of income and employment, particularly in peripheral rural areas where traditional agrarian industries have declined. More recently, however, a number of established tourism destinations have also turned to rural tourism in order to diversify their tourism products and markets and to spread the benefits of tourism away from the coastal resorts into the hinterland. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which this latter role for rural tourism represents a realistic tourism development policy. Based upon research into the development of `agrotourism' in Cyprus, it highlights the challenges and problems encountered by rural tourism entrepreneurs, identifying a number of issues which militate against the success of rural tourism development.
English:
English: Destination Marketing Brand Cyprus for Cy...
In Padvarai near Kretinga, close to Palanga Espera...In particular, it identifies high development costs but low returns, low demand, a lack of essential skills and the dominance of mass tourism operators as major challenges. It concludes, therefore, long-term financial and technical support is essential if tourism is to play an effective rural development role.
Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Rural tourism: a development panacea?
3. Tourism in Cyprus
4. The development of agrotourism in Cyprus
5. Agrotourism in Cyprus: from policy to practice
6. Agrotourism: a success story?
7. Methodology
8. The perceived benefits of agrotourism
9. Agrotourism: the challenges
9.1. Lack of support
9.2. Lack of training
9.3. Lack of local facilities/amenities
9.4. Low occupancy levels
9.5. Ineffective marketing
10. Summary and conclusions
Acknowledgements
Reference
1. Introduction
Tourism has long been considered an effective catalyst of rural socio-economic development and regeneration. Throughout Europe, in particular, tourism has been widely promoted and relied upon...