Conceptualizing Integrated Rural Tourism英文清晰.pdf

Tourism Geographies Vol. 9, No. 4, 347–370, November 2007 Conceptualizing Integrated Rural Tourism ∗ ∗∗ † GUNJAN SAXENA , GORDON CLARK , TOVE OLIVER BRIAN ILBERY‡ ∗Scarborough Management Centre, The University of Hull, Scarborough, UK ∗∗Department of Geography, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK †Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Cardiff, UK ‡Countryside and Community Research Unit, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK ABSTRACT Rural spaces are no longer associated purely with agricultural commodity pro- duction but are seen as locations for the stimulation of new socio-economic activity, often incorporating tourism, leisure, speciality food production and consumption and e-commerce. Within the context of debates about integrated and territorial approaches to rural development in Europe’s ‘lagging regions’, this paper introduces the notion of ‘integrated rural tourism’ (IRT) and describes the various methods of research used in an EU research project that forms the basis of this special edition. IRT is theorized as tourism explicitly linked to the economic, social, cultural, natural and human structures of the localities in which it takes place. The argument is that IRT–as a theory and approach–leads to more sustainable tourism (broadly conceived) than other forms of tourism because it creates powerful network connec- tions between social, cultural, economic and environmental resources. The notion of IRT is also intended to open up practical ways of thinking about improving linkages between tourism and local and regional resources, activities, products and communities in the light of changing trends in tourism demand. KEY WORDS: Integrated rural tourism, lagging rural regions, rural development, SPRITE Introduction This paper introduces the notion of ‘integr