Tourism and innovation in rural areas: the case study of the european network of village tourism

Abstract

The consumer behaviour in tourism has been changing leading to the development of a more specialized and sophisticated market focused on specific activities that can be developed at local level. In this context, rural areas have a special appeal to tourists because of the mystique attached to rural and cultural historical, ethical, characteristics of these specific geographic areas. The tourism businesses in rural areas are mostly micro-enterprises and SMEs. The phenomenon of globalization has created great pressure on small and medium enterprises, which have difficulty in forming a unified destination and distribute their products in a comprehensive manner. In this context, have emerged in recent years new forms of interaction between different stakeholders, including players from both the public and private sectors, as well as local populations, in which all join efforts for the development and implementation of networks in tourist destinations. In this context, the development of partnerships and implementation of joint strategic operations and marketing can reduce the isolation and allowing small businesses to use resources more efficiently. However, there is little literature to show that the integration of SMEs operating in the tourism sector in networks can be used as a source of innovation that contributes to local development. In this paper we present a case study on the impact of innovation with the implementation of a European Network of Village Tourism in five European regions.