Tourism Development and Urban Landscape Conservation in Rural Areas: Opportunities and Ambivalences in Local Regulations—The Case of Spain

Abstract

This article analyzes local-level normative regulations aimed at directly or indirectly conserving the urban landscape in rural areas. Using a discursive analysis methodology on regulatory documents being enforced in a series of localities assigned to a tourism promotion program, the evidence suggests that promotional activity retroactively influences the phraseology of these municipal regulations. The results obtained point to the existence of perpetuating historicist approaches within the current regulations, which appear to largely derive from the search for success in the tourism market and the resulting benefits to the local economy.