Sustainable rural development and tourism ecology

Dávid, Lóránt – Szűcs, Csaba

Keywords: responsible sustainable tourism, tourism ecology, rural tourism

Many efforts have already been made and several ideas have been raised to solve the problems in the development of socially and economically underprivileged, peripheral areas. Most of the proposals suggest supporting rural tourism and its management based on local natural, cultural, agrarian etc. traditions and help them this way to catch up with the more developed regions of the country. Based on our findings it is obvious that sustainable and responsible development of rural tourism is only possible on the basis of ecological thinking. Tourism ecology is therefore a theory and a practice which makes it possible to develop tourism in rural areas effectively, based on local natural, social and cultural resources. Sustainable tourism involves a double task: to ensure the long-term preservation of attractions and to guarantee a return on entrepreneurs’ investments into tourism and a better financial outcome for their firms. Sustainable tourism has to be ecologically and economically viable on the long term, but at the same time it has to be socially and ethically fair to the local population. A new expectation is that the main participants in the system, i.e. tourists themselves should also actively follow a responsible sustainable practice.

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