Tourism. Untapped opportunity of rural development in contemporary Poland

This article attempts to assess the importance of tourism as a source of dynamism of rural development processes. The first section recalls the basic concepts of rural development and explains what the “development” is. Next, authors presents the vision of multifunctional rural development and the concept of neoendogenous development. The second part indicates the activating role of tourism in rural areas, especially by stimulating the internal resources of the local community. Referring to the results of research, authors also pointed out the decreasing importance of tourist attractions as a factor of rural development. In conclusion, they identify main barriers to the development of tourism in rural areas, which include: too low civilization competences of autohtones, the lack of common acceptance of tourism and tourists, strangers in community and in the farm and the fact that the people who are conducting the farmhouses are not farmers but representatives of different professions – people who mostly moved out of town and are not rooted in local communities.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00