Actors, Discourses and Interfaces of Rural Tourism Development at the Local Community Level in Slovenia: Social and Political Dimensions of the Rural Tourism Development Process

Abstract

This paper addresses the policy and politics of the development of rural tourism at the local level in Slovenia and links it to the issue of sustainability. Since gaining its independence in 1991 the government has been formulating policies for the development of tourism and rural development. Using an actor perspective, this paper focuses on the different local social actors who are trying to 'transform' rural tourism development to fit their perceptions, needs, values and agendas. It also evaluates the gap between the rhetoric of national planning and policy concerning the development of tourism in rural areas, and what actually happens at the local level. From the case study it can be observed that rural tourism development in Slovenia, as elsewhere, is a negotiated process, as different actors involved in the on-going development process see it from genuinely different perspectives. Consequently, it is argued that any assessment of sustainability is relative and socially constructed.