Limitations of Rural Tourism as an Economic Diversification and Regional Development Instrument. The Case Study of the Region of La Vera

In the mid-1980s, at the same time as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms resulted in a decrease in agricultural employment, the Single European Act transformed the reduction of regional differences into an objective of European regional policy. The LEADER Initiative and the PRODER Program were two of the instruments chosen by the European Commission to deal with the effects that these new challenges would have for the rural environment. This research studies the scope and limitations of these programs. For this, we analyzed their implementation, resorting to the case study of the region of La Vera, Extremadura (Spain). The results show that although the structure of these programs is consistent with the purpose of developing and diversifying rural economies, their application must overcome a number of risks, including an excessive concentration of investments in the tourism sector, which stands out from the rest. In addition to highlighting the limitations of tourism as an axis of development, this research detects some aspects that should be taken into account when implementing these programs.