ABSTRACT
Rural tourism development is more than just a planned process. Using an actororiented approach (Long, 1989, 1992, 1997; Long and van der Ploeg, 1989; Verbole, 1999; Villarreal, 1992) it can be seen as a dynamic, on-going socially constructed and negotiated process that involves many social actors' (individuals, groups and institutions) who continuously reshape and transform it to fit it to their perceptions, needs, values and agendas. Perceiving and responding differently to changing circumstance brought upon them by the development of rural tourism, social actors align themselves with various normative and social interests (Verbole, 1999, 2000; Long, 1989). This means actors will form alliances with different local and external actors to pursue their own social projects sometimes bringing pressure to bear in reshaping and reconstructing the rural tourism development process.
