Title: Rural tourism in Spain: natural resources as sources of competitive advantage

Authors: Patricia Ordonez, Jose Parreno, Raul Pino

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Administration and Accountability, University of Oviedo, Avd. del Cristo, s/n, 33 071 Oviedo – Asturias, Spain. ' Faculty of Engineering, Department of Business Administration and Accountability, University of Oviedo, Campus de Viesques, edificio energia, 33204 Gijon – Asturias, Spain. ' Faculty of Engineering, Department of Business Administration and Accountability, University of Oviedo, Campus de Viesques, edificio energia, 33204 Gijon – Asturias, Spain

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the state of the art of the Spanish rural tourism sector, as well as performing forecasts for this strategically important sector of Spanish economy. Section 1 of the paper describes rural tourism in Spain, while in Section 2 three time series belonging to this sector are analysed, and then forecasts are calculated by applying Box-Jenkins and Artificial Neural Nets methodologies. Finally, the paper summarises major conclusions and implications for policy makers and managers involved in rural tourism in Spain.

Keywords: competitive advantage; rural tourism; Spain; neural networks; management; policy making; sustainable development.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2005.007752

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2005 Vol.1 No.1, pp.45 - 56

Published online: 15 Sep 2005 *

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