Economic Sustainability of Touristic Offer Funded by Public Initiatives in Spanish Rural Areas

Abstract

At the end of the 20th century, tourism was positioned as an activity capable of diversifying and reactivating the economies of European rural areas, which were experiencing problems of aging and population loss. One of the public initiatives that most promoted the development of tourism was the Leader Method, implemented in 1991 by the European Union, which is still active 25 years later. Within this initiative, the financing of tourist infrastructures adapted to the different rural areas was promoted. However, after 25 years, the economic sustainability has been very different and internal and external factors have determined their success. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the survival of the tourism offer financed by Leader in order to identify the factors that have determined its success in one of the European regions that has been managing Leader since 1991: Extremadura. For this purpose, a methodology based on a multivariate technique (Cluster Analysis) has been designed, which has allowed to establish a pattern of behavior based on context variables. The results obtained have shown that factors such as the concentration of investment, accessibility to urban spaces or the presence of natural resources in mountain areas have favored the sustainability of the tourist offer. This article shows what have been the keys to success in a given area for the survival of tourism companies by Leader, serving as a reference both for future public initiatives and for the scientific field, since there are hardly any studies focused on this area.