Álvarez-Montoya et al.: Neo-Rurals and Tourism in Southern Europe
In Neo-Rurals and Tourism in the Context of Rural Crisis in Southern Europe. Case Study in the Sierra de Aracena (Andalusia, Spain), authors José Manuel Álvarez-Montoya and Esteban Ruiz-Ballesteros (both Social Anthropology, Psychology and Public Health, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain) explore the influence of “neo-rurals” and tourism on a rural Spanish community to highlight how an influx of newcomers can benefit rural areas.
Neo-rurals refers to newcomers who are politically committed to sustainable rural development and are seeking an alternative to city life (differentiated from amenity migrants and classic economic immigrants). Their arrival has partly responded to the “rural crisis,” marked by depopulation, aging, extractivism, and economic decline, which has ebbed and flowed since the late 20th century. While efforts to increase tourism has been a typical response to revitalize rural areas, tourism has also introduced external values that sometimes clash with local traditions. The authors note that most research on newcomers to rural regions emphasizes conflict. They focus instead on the potential socio-economic, environmental, and identity-based benefits neo-rurals bring through their engagement with tourism.
Using an ethnographic case study of Fuenteheridos, a Spanish village of 806 residents, Álvarez-Montoya and Ruiz-Ballesteros gathered data over nine months through observation, interviews, and tourism metrics. The authors observed some overall positives of this population inflow. They identify community-based tourism, which is driven by locals, as the most beneficial tourism model, as it fosters community identity, economic growth, and recovery of rural ecosystems. Additionally, school demographics also reflect community integration, with more students from families who have moved to the area than those born there, and non-village-born parents more involved in the school’s parent association. Interview excerpts further highlight positive relationships between village-born and new residents.
The authors make clear that the positive impact of neo-rural immigration to rural communities depends heavily on the level of integration, which may vary from place to place. They also note potential limitations to their research due to the narrow scope of the area where they conducted their study. Going forward, the authors recommend further case studies of other rural communities following the same model to better understand possible positive impacts on rural communities.
