dc.description |
Rural tourism represents a merging of perhaps two of the most
influential yet contradictory features of modern life. Not only are the
forces of economic, social, cultural, environmental and political change
working to redefine rural spaces the world over, but broad global
transformations in consumption and transportation patterns are reshaping leisure behavior and travel. For those concerned with both the
nature of change in rural areas and tourism development, the dynamics
and impacts of integrating these two dramatic shifts are not well known
but are becoming increasingly provocative discourses for study.
While many students of tourism have assessed its qualities and
developments, both positive and negative, at the local and global level
(see for instance, Smith, 1989; Inskeep, 1991; Haywood, 1993; Hunter &
Green, 1995; Hunter, 1997; Murphy, 1998; Mowford & Munt, 1998; Hall &
Jenkins, 1998; Fuller & Reid, 1998; Var & Ap, 1998; Robinson, 1999; Yu &
Chung, 2001; Barthel-Bouchier, 2001; McIntosh et al., 2002; Urry, 1990,
1995) and many students of rural change have done the same (see for
instance, Mormont, 1987; Halfacree, 1993; Bryden, 1994; Shucksmith,
1991; Ray, 2001) the purpose of this book is to bring these two discourses
together. We aim to link changes at the local, rural community level to
broader, more structural considerations of globalization in order to allow
for a deeper, more theoretically sophisticated consideration of the various
forces and features of rural tourism development |
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