Tourism and Socio-Economic Transformation of Rural Areas

Evidence from Poland

Joanna Kosmaczewska, Walenty Poczta, Joanna Kosmaczewska, Walenty Poczta

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367638887
• eBook ISBN: 9781000377439
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Industrie de l'hôtellerie, du voyage et du tourisme

This book aims to fill a gap in the current literature by tracing the rural transformation process and the development of rural tourism functions in Poland over the last 30 years.

It examines the socioeconomic transformation between 1989 and 2019 that resulted in the formation and development of Polish rural tourism and the various practices associated with it. This timely topic is addressed in a central and eastern European context and sparks interest in further in-depth analysis due the diversity and magnitude of the transformation processes undertaken by the Polish rural areas. Since Polish rural areas constitute as much as 30% of the total rural areas in all new European Union member states, this book adds value through an in-depth statistical analysis of the pace of socioeconomic changes in Polish rural areas. It delves into the creation and consumption of tourism services locally, as well as the impact of global trends on the development of rural tourism in Poland.

This book will be of interest to economists, sociologists, political scientists and postgraduate students across eastern and central Europe who deal with rural tourism issues.

1 Rural areas as a place for non-agricultural economic activity in a Central and Eastern European context

Jakub Hadyński

This chapter presents the most important definitions of rural areas developed based on various systems in Poland and in other EU countries. Diversification of rural areas has been presented in relation to the administrative structure of a given country, including the historical background. This part of the book covers deruralization as well as urbanization, migration and multifunctional development in rural areas, as phenomena referred to the contemporary concepts for development of rural and suburban areas, as well as cities and urbanized areas.

1.1 Definition, characteristics, and diversity of rural areas

Rural areas play a crucial role in the food production system while also being of importance to other parts of the economy, social development, and preservation of the natural environment. As a consequence, rural issues are of interest to the representatives of many scientific disciplines, such as economics, sociology, agricultural sciences, anthropology, ethnography, geography, and more. The relevant scientists differ in how they define the subject of their research. Also, rural areas are defined in a variety of ways by rural institutions active at local, regional, national, and international level. The broad scope of activity of rural development institutions and of representatives of different scientific disciplines is the reason why no homogeneous definition of rural areas has yet been proposed despite numerous discussions.

Moreover, no single definition exists for rural areas that would be applicable across European Union member states. This is because rural areas strongly differ between countries in their social, economic, and environmental aspects. At the same time, they undergo rapid processes involved in the transformation of both economic and social structures, and experience the related human migration which often results in administrative changes driven, without limitation, by urbanization, counterurbanization, and suburbanization. Some areas are no longer considered rural, while others adopt a rural status. The above is exacerbated by the fact that the rural category is formed by different territories in each European Union country. Therefore, rural areas covered by research can considerably differ in size or population.

It can be therefore assumed that the definition of rural areas is context-sensitive and depends on the type of analysis, policy or management practice. As a consequence, rural areas have a meaning that varies depending on the delimitation criteria (Czapiewski, 2010). Note also that rural areas are viewed in a dual light; sometimes, they are defined “as a settlement unit (village, rural estate, town) or space (territory, area)” (Wieliczko, 2006; Czarnecki, 2005).

Attempts to define rural areas at an international level include those made by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 1994, they developed a terminology which identified rural areas at a local level depending on population density.

According to the OECD, rural areas have a population density below 150 people per km² at the basic administrative unit level (NUTS 5). In turn, at regional and sub-regional levels (larger administrative units; district groups, in the Polish context), the OECD determines how rural an area is based on a criterion related to the share of the rural population (Poczta & Wysocki, 2000). This method allows us to identify three types of regions (Rural Developments, 1997):

• predominantly (definitely) rural areas, where the rural population accounts for more than 50%;
• intermediate areas (with a mostly rural character), where the share of the rural population varies in the range of 15% to 50%;
• predominantly (definitely) urban areas, where the rural population accounts for less than 15%.

Moreover, in OECD countries, three categories of rural areas were identified based on how much they are integrated with the national economy (cf., e.g. Kłodziński & Wilkin, 1998):

• economically integrated areas which experience demographic and economic development and are located next to urban centers (they account for ca. 20% of rural areas);
• intermediate rural areas which experience sluggish economic development and demographic stagnation, and are dominated by an agricultural economy (ca. 60%);
• remote rural areas which are sparsely populated and located away from urban centers (they account for up to 20% of rural areas).

Currently, the OECD uses a broader typology of rural areas (as shown in Table 1.1). The delimitation criteria used are the population density at local level, the share of the rural population in the region concerned, and the population of neighboring cities.

Table 1.1 Classification of rural areas as per the original OECD typology

Delimitation criterion	Regional division
Local level, by population density	Rural area	Population density < 150 persons/km^2
	Urban area	Population density > 150 persons/km^2
Regional level: share of the rural population in a territory	Predominantly rural	> 50% of the region’s population live in rural areas
	Intermediate	15%–50% of the region’s population live in rural areas
	Predominantly urban	< 15% of the region’s population live in rural areas
Regional level; additional division by city population	A predominantly rural area which becomes an intermediate area	Includes a city with a population over 200,000 which accounts for no less than 25% of the region’s population
	An intermediate area which becomes a predominantly urban area	Includes a city with a population over 500,000 which accounts for no less than 25% of the region’s population

Source: Own elaboration based on Eurostat, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Rural_area (2020); NSPLiM (2015).

In addition to the existing typology of rural areas, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional Polic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of maps
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• 1. Rural areas as a place for non-agricultural economic activity in a Central and Eastern European context
• 2. Thirty years of transformation in Poland as a basis for changes in the socioeconomic structure of rural areas
• 3. Key changes in rural tourism development in Poland between 1989 and 2019
• 4. Evolution of rural tourism in Poland, 1989–2019
• 5. General trends and their potential impact on the development of tourism and leisure activities in Poland
• Index