New inspiration catalogue provides tools to develop sustainable tourism
A new inspiration catalogue from the Danish Centre for Rural Research equips rural tourism actors with locally adapted tools to develop tourism sustainably.
In recent decades, the tourism industry has been seen as an important driver of economic development in rural areas as the more traditional industries associated with rural and peripheral areas lose economic importance. The increasing focus on climate change and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals is also increasingly important in the tourism sector.
However, from a rural perspective, sustainable tourism is not only about revenue, climate and the environment, but also about what tourism means in relation to the livelihoods and quality of life of the people living in the areas.
In a new inspiration catalogue, four researchers focus on the rural perspective in relation to the development of sustainable tourism.
- It's about remembering the people who live and work in rural areas. Therefore, it is also necessary to see development as more than just business development.
- Sustainable tourism development in rural areas also concerns the maintenance of viable local communities in relation to settlement, and it includes ensuring that the economic returns from tourism create value locally, says Egon Noe, Head of Centre at the Danish Centre for Rural Research.
The overall goal of the inspiration catalogue is therefore to equip destinations with better strategic and locally adapted tools to develop tourism sustainably.
The inspiration catalogue is aimed broadly at all actors involved in rural tourism, both practitioners and politicians at local, municipal, regional and national level.
Meet the researchers
The inspiration catalogue is compiled by Egon Noe, Annette Aagaard Thuesen, Barbora Gulisova and Bo Villumsen, all of whom are affiliated with the Danish Centre for Rural Research
Fact box
The catalogue is written as a partial delivery for a major research project carried out in collaboration between the Nordic regional research institute Nordregio, the Center for Regional and Tourism Research on Bornholm and the Danish Centre for Rural Research. The aim of the research project has been to develop a general tourism account for sustainable destination development. The overall goal of both the project and this inspiration catalogue is to equip destinations with better strategic and locally adapted tools to develop tourism sustainably - economically, socially and environmentally