| By: |
Filippo Randelli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche);
Patrizia Romei (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche);
Marco Tortora (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche);
Maria Tinacci Mossello (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: |
After the crisis of the traditional agricultural system in the 50’s, starting
from the 80’s rural tourism is driving the renaissance of Tuscan countryside.
The empty spaces of rural areas, which characterise the agricultural
landscape, show a new set of functions developed by and for the tourist field.
The Tuscany Region was the first Italian region to recognize the new trend of
the integrated rural development so that in 1985 it stated the first regional
law on agritourism. In this context Tuscany is the one of the first Italian
and European regions committed to the development of rural areas. This paper
recognizes the leading role of Tuscany in the development of rural areas and
tourism and shows the relationships between tourism and local sustainable
development in rural areas through a case study. In the first part there is a
historical analysis of the evolution of the tourism in rural areas, of the
strengths of the Tuscan model in this field, and of the relationship between
identity and local resources for the sustainable development of tourism (the
topic of rural tourism may be analyzed from a local development point of
view). In the second part there is the introduction of a case study developed
in a rural area characterized by the “typical” Tuscan landscape, the presence
of art cities, and a high-quality supply of services and products such as food
and wine. The analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative methodologies
that helped us outline the network of tourist centres and study tourism in
rural Tuscany. Then there is an analysis of competition capacities and
potentialities of the local area to understand if and how these depend more or
less on the network structure or on local resources. At the end the paper
underlines the strengths and weaknesses of rural tourism in Tuscany, one of
the leading region of the European project NECSTOUR, and outlines possible
future regional policies in support of the sector. |
| Keywords: |
rural tourism, regional development, sustainable tourism, Tuscany |
| JEL: |
O18 Q26 Q56 R11 |
| Date: |
2011 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2011_11.rdf&r=cul |