Tourism and rural change: the symbolic impact.

Research on rural tourism is viewed as not only relating to urban pressure on rural space, but also to the rights of different social groups to space, and to a form of tourism which suits their cultural and economic backgrounds. A case study is presented of the Ardennes, Wallonia, Belgium, which shows how different factors interact and evolve towards the wider problem of future rural development. A discussion of the conflicts such as camp site licences which turned into a class conflict and an urban conflict, and tourist development by property developers outside the region as characterized by 'holiday villages', is followed by a review of the symbolic impact of tourism issues. The impact of tourist conflicts is defined as: 'the integration of larger rural and urban groups into social movements seeking to challenge the social division of space imposed by the dominant economy and through the social contradictions induced'.