Rural-tourism-and-the-challenge-of-tourism-diversi

TourismManagement23(2002)233–244Ruraltourismandthechallengeoftourismdiversification:thecaseofCyprusRichardSharpley*CentreforTravelandTourism,UniversityofNorthumbriaatNewcastle,LonghirstCampus,LonghirstHall,Morpeth,Northumberland,NE613LL,UKReceived12December2000;accepted11April2001AbstractRuraltourismhaslongbeenconsideredameansofachievingeconomicandsocialdevelopmentandregeneration.Morespecifically,ithasbeenwidelypromotedasaneffectivesourceofincomeandemployment,particularlyinperipheralruralareaswheretraditionalagrarianindustrieshavedeclined.Morerecently,however,anumberofestablishedtourismdestinationshavealsoturnedtoruraltourisminordertodiversifytheirtourismproductsandmarketsandtospreadthebenefitsoftourismawayfromthecoastalresortsintothehinterland.Thepurposeofthispaperistoexploretheextenttowhichthislatterroleforruraltourismrepresentsarealistictourismdevelopmentpolicy.Baseduponresearchintothedevelopmentof‘agrotourism’inCyprus,ithighlightsthechallengesandproblemsencounteredbyruraltourismentrepreneurs,identifyinganumberofissueswhichmilitateagainstthesuccessofruraltourismdevelopment.Inparticular,itidentifieshighdevelopmentcostsbutlowreturns,lowdemand,alackofessentialskillsandthedominanceofmasstourismoperatorsasmajorchallenges.Itconcludes,therefore,long-termfinancialandtechnicalsupportisessentialiftourismistoplayaneffectiveruraldevelopmentrole.r2002ElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Ruraltourism;Agrotourism;TourisminCyprus1.IntroductionTourismhaslongbeenconsideredaneffectivecatalystofruralsocio-economicdevelopmentandregeneration.ThroughoutEurope,inparticular,tourismhasbeenwidelypromotedandrelieduponasameansofaddressingthesocialandeconomicchallengesfacingperipheralruralareas,primarilythoseassociatedwiththedeclineoftraditionalagrarianindustries(Cavaco,1995;Hoggart,Buller,&Black,1995;Opperman,1996;Williams&Shaw,1998).IthasalsoattractedsignificantlevelsofEuropeanstructuralfunding.Ithasbeenestimated,forexample,that5.5percentofEUStructuralFundsallocatedto‘Objective1’(i.e.structu-rallybackward)regionsbetween1989and1993wereinvestedintourismdevelopmentprojects(Hannigan,1994a,b)whilst,between1994and1999,atotalofEcu7.3billionofstructuralfundingwascontributedtotourismdevelopment(TTI,1999).Morespecifically,overone-thirdoftheoriginalLEADER(LiaisonsEntreActionspourlaD!eveloppmentdes!EconomiesRurales)projectsweretourismrelated(CalatravaRequena,&Avil!es,1993;Nitsch&vanStraaten,1995).Ruraltourismdevelopmentprogrammeshavealsobecomeincreasinglyevidentelsewhere,thoughnottothesameextentasinEurope.IntheUSA,forexample,ithasbeenfoundthat30stateshavedevelopedtourismpoliciesspecificallytargetedatruralareas,whilstafurther14haveincludedruraltourismwithintheiroveralltourismdevelopmentplans(Luloffetal.,1994).Similarly,ruraltourismenterpriseshavebecomemorenumerousinordertosupplementthedecliningincomesofkibbutzimFagriculturalco-operativesettlementsFinIsrael(Fleischer&Pizam,1997)whilstinmanyothercountries,includingCanada,Australia,NewZealandandthoseinboththeformerEasternEuropeandthePacificregion,tourismisemployedasanengineofeconomicgrowthanddiversificationinruralareas(Hall&Jenkins,1998).Beyond,andalongside,thisgeneralandwidespreaddevelopmental/regenerativerole,however,ruraltourismisalsobeingpromotedincreasinglyasacounterpointtomass,package-typetourismindestinationareas(Getz,*Tel.:[phone];fax:[phone].E-mailaddress:[e-mail](R.Sharpley).0261-5177/02/$-seefrontmatterr2002ElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.PII:S0261-5177(01)00078-41998).Thatis,anumberofpopularsun–sea–sandtouristdestinationshave,inrecentyears,attemptedtodiversifyintoruraltourismFtourismthatisbothlocationallyandexperientiallyrural/traditional,asopposedtocoastal/modernFinordertoachieveamorebalanced,sustainableapproachtotourismdevelopment.Morespecifically,thedevelopmentofruraltourismintraditionallysummer-sundestinationsisseenasaneffectivemeansofachievingnotonlytheregenerationofruralareasbutalsoavarietyoftourism-policyobjectives,includingtheattractionofmorediverse,higher-spendingmarkets;mitigatingtheproblemsofseasonalityassociatedwithsummer-sun,packagetour-ism;encouragingindependent,non-organisedtourism;spreadingthesocio-economicbenefitsoftourismintothehinterland;promotingthecultural,asopposedtoclimatic,attractionsofthedestination;and,satisfyingtheallegeddemandformoreenvironmentallyappro-priateformsoftourism.OnesuchdestinationthathassoughttourismdiversificationandeconomicregenerationthroughthepromotionofruraltourismisCyprus.Overthelast40years,CyprushasemergedasamajorMediterraneansummer-sundestination,thesuccessfulgrowthoftourismunderpinningtheremarkablesocio-economicdevelopmentoftheisland(Ayers,2000;Kammas&Salehi-Esfahani,1992;Ioannides,1992;Seekings,1997).In1991andfollowingtheleadoftheLaonaProject(Ioannides,1995),1agovernment-endorsed‘agrotour-ism’2policywaslaunchedasoneelementoftheisland’stourismdevelopmentstrategy.However,althoughtheCypriotagrotourismprojecthasostensiblymetwithsomesuccessFincludingbeingarecipientofBritishAirways’‘TourismforTomorrow’Awardi