Forces of economic, social, cultural, environmental, and political change are working to re-define rural spaces the world over and broad global transformations in consumption and transportation patterns have re-shaped leisure behaviour and travel. This book of cases about rural tourism development in Canada demonstrates the different ways that tourism has been positioned as a local response to political and economic shifts in a nation that is itself undergoing rapid change, both continentally and globally.

This publication released on the occasion of the International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, focuses on community empowerment and poverty alleviation through rural tourism development. The report shines a light on rural tourism development in the Asia Pacific region with fourteen specific case studies that show how communities have adapted a sustainable approach to rural tourism that stimulates economic growth, creates employment and improves the livelihood of communities.

Rural regions are experiencing fundamental challenges to their ways of life and social fabric, as traditional land-based occupations are in decline and younger and better-educated rural residents migrate to cities for greater work, social and cultural opportunities. Rural tourism offers a possible solution to the problems associated with lost economic opportunities and population decline that accompany the waning of agriculture. Many governments and regional authorities have embraced rural tourism as an opportunity to bring new money into rural regions, stimulating growth, providing employment opportunities and thus beginning to halt rural decline. However, the possibilities of rural tourism to promote rural regeneration have been criticised for being over-stated and unrealistic. Rural tourism has frequently been found to under-deliver in terms of expected economic benefits and job creation, and may sometimes exacerbate local hierarchies and inequalities. This edited collection questions the contribution tourism can and does make to rural regions. Drawing on a range of geographically diverse, research-driven case studies, the book is thematically organised to explore a variety of issues relevant to rural tourism, from the perspectives of local communities, businesses, government/policy makers and the tourists themselves.

Some researchers perceive tourism as a process which creates dependency and causes loss of socioeconomic and environmental control, and is harmful to traditional sociocultural structures. For others it is clearly an opportunity for development and convergence among societies. The main consequences of tourism are economic, sociocultural and socio-ecological ones. These directly affect the natural and cultural landscape, as well as the inhabitants of the destinations. ‘Proper management’ can unite the local community; strengthen the historical memory and promote the recognition that the landscape is a legacy worth preserving. If local people can learn to appreciate the need for regulation and careful development of cultural tourism then it is possible to have an alternative to the strategies of convenience, based upon the view of tourism only for profit. Designing tourism to serve heritage and local sustainable development not only helps to conserve the resources that make it possible, but also complies with the ethical duty to guide social perception towards awareness and respect, which in turn will lead to sustainability. By means of case studies and theoretical developments, the authors attempt to present methods designed to minimise the impacts of tourism and encourage its positive effects. Some ideas in the book discuss the role of local communities, their participation in development management, the singularities of community tourism, planning, local governance and the relationship between socio-economic benefits and impacts.