The Rural Tourism and the Rural Development
Mirela MAZILU*1
* Corresponding author
1 University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Craiova, ROMANIA
E-mail: mirelamazilu2004@yahoo.com
Pages: 77-82. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva1_2010/12JSSP012010.pdf
Cite: Mazilu M. (2010), The Rural Tourism and the Rural Development. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, 1(1), 77-82. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva1_2010/12JSSP012010.pdf
Abstract. Agrotourism is a component of the rural tourism, with implications in the revaluation of the local resources and in the increase of the lifestyle of the people, in the social and economic development of the rural locality and of the community, in the protection and the preservation of the natural and built environment, in the context of an economic activity on ecological principles. Between rural tourism and agrotourism there is a close relation from the whole to the part, agrotourism being one of the components of rural tourism. Agrotourism, however, being practised mainly in the areas with diversified agricultural vocation, in the relatively isolated and isolated areas, which impose the provision of all the necessary stuff to live through own forces or where there is a specialty, creates monopoly positions regarding the production of some appreciated and sought food products (orchard and viticulture areas, shepard villages, the delta and other fishing areas). The nature experience does not represent the only feature that differentiates ecotourism from other similar forms of tourism. That is why it cannot be considered a simple form of rural tourism or an easy way of agrotourism, where the activity is often reduced to the observance and the participation in the agricultural activities or the caring for animals. Nature, a non-exhausted source of entertainment, remains a permanent and cheap attraction or handy for more participants in the tourist act. Ecotourism involves the visit of the natural areas for an educational purpose, as well as the implementation of solutions with a minimum impact on the ecosystem, for the development of the local community. The mass tourism is the one responsible for the most visible and most profound negative influences on the destination tourist areas, these being the majority of the cases of negative impacts. The alternative tourism tries to avoid the traditional destinations with a mass character, focusing on the responsible and ethical attitude of the consumers taking part in the newest forms of tourism. The sustainable tourism represents the development of all the forms of tourism, through a tourist management and marketing which complies with the natural, social and economic integrity of the environment, in such a way that the exploitation of the natural and cultural resources should be done in the interest of the future generations. The sustainable tourism should comply with the following principles: the minimization of the impacts of the tourist activities on the natural environment for obtaining the ecological sustainability; the minimisation of the negative impacts of the tourist activity on the local communities and its members for obtaining the social sustainability; the minimisation of the negative impacts of the tourist activity on the culture, traditions and local community customs for obtaining the cultural sustainability. The guarantee of success of such a tourism means: the stimulation of the private initiative in tourism and the creation of a support frame for the local tourism; the revaluation of the tourist potential of the county through the development, diversification and the promotion of the tourist offer; the sustainable development of tourism through: the rational use of the tourist resources and the promotion of the preservation and protection methods of the environment under the national legal stipulations on the environment; the maximisation of the tourist potential through the integration of tourism in other sectors of the regional industry; the offer of assistance for the local institutions and the operators to achieve and change the resources according to the community demands.
K e y w o r d s: mix, agrotourism product, destination, rural tourism, sustainable tourism