The relevance of landscape in the rural tourism experience: Identifying important elements of the rural landscape

Rural tourism is an important development strategy for some rural areas. The development of rural tourism is highly determined by the features of the territory of the rural areas and landscape may have an important impact on the tourism experience lived by visitors in these areas. The literature suggests several rural landscape features that are likely to be attractive to visitors. However, the research in this field is rather limited, and mostly confined to studies supported in visual stimuli (e.g. photos), ignoring the impact of the direct contact of visitors with the territory. Moreover, differences among different types of visitors have been largely ignored. The present study attempts to overcome some of these limitations by assessing visitors’ perceptions of the rural landscape of a village and, also, the impact of landscape features in the rural tourism experience, while the visitors are still in the village. Vegetation, slopes and built heritage emerge as key elements of the rural landscape with a major impact on rural tourism experience. Recommendations regarding the development and promotion of tourism in rural areas, with special emphasis on landscape features, are provided. Differences among groups of visitors are noticed, suggesting that different groups of visitors require different approaches.