DistortionRox
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Summary
other studies stress the positive effects that tourism can bring to quality of life issues, including a greater “sense of place” for rural residents, an upgrading of local cultural facilities, or anenhancement of regional conservation efforts. Frequent mention is made of different strategies
employed in rural tourism, including heritage tourism, nature-based tourism/ecotourism, and
agritourism.
Other studies caution that effective rural tourism requires careful planning and development and
typically employs well thought-out marketing approaches. Even well-designed tourism
areas, especially those that are more isolated or more sparsely populated, lack the resources
required to establish a successful tourism program
Most studies reviewed in this report deal exclusively with rural areas, although some urban
citations have been included when the issues involved had relevance to nonmetro America. The
focus is community-based tourism development, with an emphasis on how local communities
can more effectively develop a viable tourism strategy. Also, while the studies were mainly
conducted since the early 1990’s, some citations from the 1980’s have also been included.
In recent years, rural tourism has gone through significant changes. What was once an activity
primarily focused on usage of national parks has evolved into an area of interest now deemed to
have considerable potential for rural development. One aspect of this change in status is the
vocabulary used to describe various types of rural tourism activities. For example, some studies
The remainder of this report is divided into two sections. First is a discussion of the main issues
related to rural tourism and tourism strategies, with relevant research cited. Second is the
annotated bibliography, organized by topic. All references cited in the discussion section can be
found in the area of the annotated bibliography addressing the topic described
Marketing of tourism poses special challenges for many rural areas. Frequently, rural
communities lack the name recognition associated with more populated areas. Different
strategies can be pursued to achieve greater name recognition among potential visitors.
Commonly, this involves targeting potential visitors to an area. For example, Henning (1996)
demonstrates that survey methods in a rural Louisiana community have been effective in
targeting the area to seniors, who are among the most frequent visitors. Often regional
marketing makes the most sense given the limited resources available to many rural areas
(Shields and Schibik, 1995). However, Sadowske and Alexander (1992) caution that prior to
implementing an expensive marketing strategy, communities should be aware of other costs
associated with tourism development. They also argue that the key to success in tourism often
lies in communities striking a balance between the private and social costs and benefits of rural
tourism development.