The coronavirus has seriously affected the economy in general and tourism in particular. However, at the same time, it has been a great opportunity for rural tourism, as this type of tourism has been one of the beneficiaries of this health crisis. This is partly explained by the fact that travelers have turned to nature destinations and accommodation that guarantees social distance. Under the premise that tourism is a community product and that it is necessary to count on the community and local capacities, the aim of this research is to find out how the factors that make up the destination management models affect the development of rural tourism in a given region. It also seeks to know their influence on the results of rural accommodation companies in order to promote local development in this state of the pandemic. The work has been carried out with a total of 156 tourist accommodations. A total of eight management factors and five different clusters of companies were detected from the analysis of the dimensionality of the model.
TopIntroduction
The coronavirus has generated significant economic effects. The tourism sector has been particularly affected by the pandemic. According to data from the UNCTAD report (2021), the fall in international tourism derived from the coronavirus could represent a loss of more than 4 trillion dollars in global GDP during the years 2020 and 2021. This report also indicates a 74% decrease in the number of tourist arrivals in 2020 in relation to 2019. However, this unfavorable situation for international tourism in turn represents an opportunity for the development and growth of rural tourism, supported by national travelers and tourists.
Rural areas, because of globalization, have experienced important social and economic changes, which have particularly affected traditional rural industries (such as agriculture and / or forestry). Given this, tourism and its related services appear as a substitution industry for rural communities (Lane, 1994; Ohe. 2020; Xu, Wang, Wu, Liang, Jiao & Nazneen, 2018), becoming an important element or the only engine of growth in many regions that do not have a developed primary or secondary sector. nor with an important offer of the so-called “sun and beach tourism” (Saarinen, 2007).
Under the “community approach” to tourism development, which promulgates that rural tourism development and entrepreneurship cannot function without the participation and collaboration of entrepreneurs directly and indirectly involved in tourism (Murphy 1985; Ohe, 2020), this work analyzes the phenomenon of rural tourism, studying different aspects that can guarantee its correct development (Li-Chan et al., 2013; Correia-Loureiro, 2014), such as the need to undertake in this subsector of the economy (Dias, González-Rodríguez & Patuleia, 2020; Lanfranchi et al. al., 2014), the importance of proper tourism planning (Fotiadis et al., 2016; Healy et al., 2016), the role played by the entrepreneur (Dias, Silva, Patuleia & González-Rodríguez, 2020; Xu, Wang, Wu, Liang, Jiao & Nazneen, 2018; Zampetakis & Kanelakis, 2010) or the importance of accepting the residents for tourism development (Brida et al., 2011).
The challenge posed by the situation created by the coronavirus for rural tourism has led us to present the results of our research on the development of rural tourism in Andalusia (Spain). In this region, although it leads the “sun and beach tourism” (Andalusian Tourism, 2014), rural tourism has become both a complement to it, contributing to reduce its seasonality, and a type of substitute tourism, in addition to be a benchmark in rural tourism in Spain. Therefore, it seems essential to analyze the factors that facilitate the rise of rural tourism in Andalusia and study how its development is being carried out, as it is a reference that can serve for the development of this type of tourism in other regions, both in Spain and in Spain. other countries, especially in local communities with important natural resources and in a situation of poverty.
Therefore, the objective of this work is to examine the characteristics of rural tourism in Andalusia, identifying the existing destination management models in it, as well as the influence that proper destination management has on business results, examining the key factors that contribute to the success of this type of business. And this with the purpose of offering a series of recommendations that may be useful for the development of this type of activity in less developed regions.
It is structured as follows. First, a literature review is made to see what factors determine the correct development of rural tourism. Next, the work methodology carried out is shown and an empirical study is carried out to determine the existing destination management models and make explicit the constitutive factors of such models that affect the development of this type of tourism in Andalusia and in the results achieved by rural accommodation units. Finally, the conclusions, limitations and practical applications of this research will be presented.