By Pako Rodríguez, consultant specialised in tourism. (Originally published in Spanish)

It is no coincidence that this year World Tourism Day has tourism and rural development as its main theme. While the sector, accustomed to overcrowding and physical contact, shows us a new reality linked to social distancing that requires the rural environment to develop at an optimal scale. In turn, the rural environment needs to take advantage of this unique opportunity to position itself as a tourist alternative beyond the current context of the sector. For this, it is essential that it develops its full potential, knowing how to communicate it well and shielding itself to avoid contagions that affect the local population, making use of technology for all this.

Tourism in times of the coronavirus

We are currently experiencing the first practically generalised halt in international tourism at a global level, with a drop in figures that take us back to the initial years of mass tourism back in the 50s and 60s. As back then, during these months of travel, the vast majority of people have been limited to nearby destinations, mostly using their own vehicle to get there. In Spain, traditional destinations, normally saturated with a wide offer to cover the number of visitors, are the ones that have suffered the most during these months. That is why they have been most affected by the figures on destroyed employment, the closure of companies and the consequent economic losses, forecast for 2020 at more than 80 billion. Not surprisingly, 47.2 million people live in 13% of the territory. A scenario that makes social distancing an urban challenge, with many of these population centers also being great tourist destinations.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recently indicated that the figures for domestic tourism are 6 times higher than the international figure (9,000 million trips compared to 1,400 million, respectively) in most destinations. On the other hand, it has also been shown that domestic tourism generates higher income than international tourism. In OECD countries, domestic tourism represents 75% of total tourism spending, while in the European Union, domestic tourism spending is 1.8 times higher than inbound tourism spending. That is why domestic tourism, from which rural tourism is currently feeding on, will be key in the recovery of the sector for this international organisation.

In terms of figures, we have seen how both rural tourism, as well as other individual options such as camper van tourism, closely related to rural tourism, have experienced a boom and found a new demand after the relaxation of restrictive measures by some countries, including Spain, coinciding with the start of the high season for most of the traditional destinations.

Rural tourism: regenerative and innovative

The new reality of this contactless tourism and intensive hygiene measures will remain with us until an effective vaccine is found (and its subsequent mass production and distribution), something that, although we hope not, could take months or even years. In addition, the question remains as to whether, at least for our generation, these times that we are suffering will have secondary effects beyond Covid-19 on the behaviour of travelers and, therefore, on the offer.

Now more than ever, tourism and local economic development must go hand in hand with the aim of generating a new, safe, better and innovative offer for a growing demand that needs to be convincing. Rural tourism should focus on capturing travelers who seek open spaces, distance, nature, a sense of security, gastronomy, culture and leisure in the form mainly of outdoor activities. It has to see how to capture, for example, the growing camper van tourism, or part of the MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions/Events), which looks doubtfully to large cities to develop incentive trips or events.

Regenerative tourism, accompanied by innovation (regenerative tourism + i), is one of the most interesting alternatives that these territories can launch. Starting with an analysis of what you have to later enhance the territory's natural resources is the key to achieving it. To do this efficiently, it is essential to make use of the technology available to collect and analyse data that allow us to efficiently reach the demand thanks, for example, to the clues that it offers us through social networks and other content existing on the network. Wanting to develop a destination without using technology is comparable to wanting to put a screw without using a screwdriver: it may be possible, but it is neither efficient nor the result is optimal. Developing a destination without the proper technology would be like using the wrong screwdriver - it just doesn't make sense.

In terms of resources, regenerative tourism broadens options and, beyond the countryside, invites, among other things, to gaze at the sky (astrotourism) or watch the sea (pesca-tourism or marine tourism).

Regenerative tourism with an impact on rural areas

There are several examples of regenerative tourism with an impact on rural areas in which we have been involved through various projects from Ideas for Change. These are just a few examples:

Starlight:

Created by the Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands and Corporation 5, the Starlight Foundation aims to protect the starry sky, disseminate astronomy and promote, coordinate and manage the Starlight movement. Through its Certification system, it intends to generate local economic development in eminently rural territories, contributing to the fight against depopulation and developing star tourism or astrotourism. In addition to the certification as "Starlight Destination", there are different modalities such as Starlight Towns, Reserves, Hotels and Rural Houses and Star Parks, among others. To date, it has 30 Tourist Destinations, 14 Reservations, 60 Accommodations, 3 Camps, 7 Star Parks, among others. The area of the certified territories amounts to 75,083.24km2 and has trained 112 Guides, 445 Astronomical Monitors and 18 Auditors.

With all this it contributes to a local economic development based on not only sustainable, but regenerative tourism, since it does not limit its use, but rather extends it in such a way that the value of the property requires its protection for its maintenance over time.

Adopt an Olive Tree (Apadrina un Olivo):

In Oliete (Teruel), two entrepreneurs launched this initiative to rescue the almost 100,000 thousand-year-old olive trees that exist in the area. Through an adoption system, they have managed, on the one hand, to recover more than 10,000 olive trees, attracting more than 18,000 people to the area and, on the other, to stop the bleeding of depopulation that this municipality suffers, among many others in the region. All this has been achieved through the generation of both direct employment, through the project, and indirectly, through the visits received by tourists who want to visit their olive trees and take the opportunity to get to know the municipality.

In order to be attractive for these visits, Oliete carried out an exercise to analyse the resources of the territory. The 365 inhabitants, and now rising, have a valuable natural heritage, in the form of the olive trees themselves, rivers, reservoirs and trails; and a magnificent cultural heritage, thanks to fortresses, Iberian settlements, cave paintings, hermitages and archaeological and paleontological remains.

All this represents an offer of active, cultural tourism and contact with nature and with people who live different realities. A tourism that allows you to disconnect in order to reconnect.

At Ideas for Change we have launched Destinations That Rock, a line focused on helping territories that want to become tourist destinations and destinations that want to transform themselves, leaving behind previous and obsolete schemes.

If you want to be part of the new reality of tourism, let's talk.

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