Limiting rural tourism: Local agency and community-based tourism in Andalusia (Spain)

Abstract

Rural tourism, understood as community-based tourism (CBT), is characterised by being locally led and by its role in economic diversification. In this context, local agency becomes particularly relevant in the form of decisions to become involved in the tourism business or not. From this perspective, it is possible to analyse the tactics used by households to expand or contract the tourist offer based on their available resources and their concept of quality of life. Based on an ethnographic case study in Andalusia (Spain), we developed this analytical approach empirically, showing (1)the local capacity to limit tourism activity, (2)the questioning of tourism as an activity that is always desired and positive, and (3)the practical possibilities of tourism degrowth at the local level. The results of this case study, despite its logical limitations, indicate that in rural tourism it seems especially feasible to develop local strategies for limiting tourism.