Rural tourism utilizes a wide array of publicly
and privately owned resources, involves a broad
range of stakeholders and inherently includes the
potential for harming the natural, cultural and
social resources that it builds upon (Cawley and
Gillmor, 2008). Thus, the issues of sustainability
become important and attract increased attention
in the literature on rural tourism development. The
literature on sustainable rural tourism develop-
ment focuses on the appropriate policies and strate-
gies that would ensure the realization of the ben-
e
fi
ts associated with rural tourism while limiting its
adverse impacts, especially on the natural environ-
ment and the local culture. It is built on the sustain-
able tourism development concept, which includes
different approaches with respect to the treatment
of different dimensions of sustainability. There are
approaches that concentrate either on a single, in-
dividual dimension of sustainability, such as envi-
ronmental, economic and social sustainability, or
on a combination of dimensions (Augustyn, 1998).
Studies that consider sustainability in a multidi-
mensional manner are recently increasing. These
studies advocate that the nature and complexity of
rural tourism necessitate the adoption of a holistic
approach that takes into account the diversity of the
resources utilized and the stakeholders involved