The Contribution of Rural Tourism to the Environmental and Managerial Development of the Local Community: the Case of the Province of Siena

This paper tries to identify the needs of a particular kind of tourism enterprise: rural tourism, given that recent statistical data on the “inbound phenomenon” for the Italian scenario confirms that visitors here are attracted principally towards artistic, cultural and rural tourism, with particular regard to this last tourism segment. This trend has created a focus on agricultural tourism, which represents an important segment of the tourism market in Italy, and particularly in Tuscany with special regard to the Province of Siena, acknowledged by the OECD as the benchmark of rural tourism for the territorial board of this organization (OECD, 2002). This paper presents the preliminary findings of a research project on rural tourism management in different areas of the Province of Siena in order to distinguish the main managerial problems in this area and consequently to offer local government useful support in planning the economic, territorial and touristic development of rural communities with a “sustainable” prospective.