Key variables for developing integrated rural tourism

ABSTRACT

Considering how important tourism development is as an element of economic recovery in rural areas, one of its objectives should be sustainability. The starting point must therefore be the existence of partnerships and cooperation between stakeholders. Such cooperation would enable the integration of tourism development through the endogeneity, complementarity, and embeddedness of the resources and the empowerment of the residents. The objective of this research is to determine the basic types of relationships to be developed in order to achieve integrated rural tourism. Initially, we verify the variables involved in integrated rural tourism by determining the measurement models, and subsequently we propose a model that reflects the relationships between the variables under study. Our research shows that there must be two types of collaboration between stakeholders. First, there must be collaboration to develop a tourism product, and second, there must be collaboration to provide adequate information about the existing tourism activities. Due the nature of tourism, various types of businesses must work together, but if information is not subsequently provided about the product, then tourism cannot develop as desired. Collaboration as a whole also favours the development of rural tourism in which tourism activities complement the traditional activities of an area, consequently increases the embeddedness of the product and the endogeneity of the resources. Furthermore, the opinions of the various stakeholders in tourism development must be taken into account, especially the residents, which takes place through empowerment. Finally, collaboration means that residents and tourists must coexist and come into contact, therefore sharing public services and entertainment and leisure locations. All the aforementioned factors consequently provide the basis for integrating the rural tourism that is developed in an area, which will favour the economic, sociocultural, and environmental sustainability of that area.

摘要

鉴于旅游发展对乡村地区经济振兴的重要性, 旅游发展的一个目标应该是可持续性。因而旅游发展的起点是利益相关者间的伙伴与合作关系。这种合作通过资源的内生性、互补性与镶嵌性以及居民的增权使旅游业一体化发展。本文的研究目的是, 为了实现乡村旅游的一体化发展, 决定利益相关者间伙伴与合作关系的类型。首先, 我们通过测量模型提出了乡村旅游一体化发展涉及的变量, 进而我们提出了反映这些变量见关系的模型。研究表明, 旅游发展利益相关者间存在两种关系:首先, 开发旅游产品一定要合作; 其次, 为现有旅游活动提供充分的信息需要合作。由于旅游业的综合性, 各种旅游业务需要协同进行, 但是如果不能提供充分的旅游产品信息, 旅游业不可能如愿发展。整体化合作也有利于乡村旅游的发展, 其中旅游活动将会与该地区的传统活动互补, 进行提升产品的本地镶嵌性和资源的内生性。另外, 需要考虑旅游发展中各个利益相关者的看法, 尤其是居民的看法, 促进他们的增权。最后, 旅游合作意味着居民与旅游者一定要和谐共存并且相互接触, 因而需要共享公共服务与娱乐休闲场所。因此, 上述要素为促进地区乡村旅游的一体化发展提供了基础, 将会促进该地区经济、社会文化与环境的持续发展。

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• networks
• embeddedness
• endogeneity
• complementarity
• empowerment
• rural tourism
• integration

关键词:

• 合作
• 网络
• 镶嵌性
• 内生性
• 互补性
• 增权
• 乡村旅游
• 一体化

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge financial support from the Regional Government of Aragón and FSE (project S106: IMPROVE Research Group).

Notes on contributors

Mercedes Marzo-Navarro

Mercedes Marzo-Navarro is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing Management and Marketing Research, University of Zaragoza. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics and Business Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Zaragoza. She has written numerous articles on relationship marketing, quality in higher education, services marketing and tourism. She has publications in the Journal of Fashion Marketing & Management, International Journal of Educational Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Tourism Geographies and Journal of Relationship Marketing among others.

Marta Pedraja-Iglesias

Marta Pedraja-Iglesias is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing Management and marketing Research, University of Zaragoza. She has written numerous articles on relationship marketing, price, channels of distribution and tourism. She has publications in the International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Tourism Geographies and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management among others.

Lucia Vinzón

Lucia Vinzón works in Integrated Rural Tourism. She has publications in the Tourism Geographies and Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research among others.