Degrowing rural tourism development: thinking globally to save the local

Abstract

The nature of tourism consumption is a major challenge for rural areas. Rural tourism is uneven in time and space and destinations are simultaneously prone to under- and over-tourism. Rural tourism is often framed as an opportunity to develop tourism in a more sustainable manner. The irony is that rural tourism is still primarily about growth and considerations of the broader context of development often come second, if considered at all. Governments remain obsessed with the growth paradigms exhibiting ubiquitous GDP or visitation growth fetishism. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted tourism systems around the world. Nevertheless, despite claims of transformation from some this chapter argues that the broad thrust of rural tourism remains the same, focussed on growth rather than sustainable development. The chapter therefore posits a multi-scale framework in which degrowth strategies can contribute to sustainable rural tourism development. However, although the value and contribution of such strategies are becoming increasingly recognised the chapter concludes on a sanguine note by highlighting how, ultimately, the sustainability of rural tourism lies outside rather than inside a rural tourism destination context.