Tourism Planning in Underdeveloped Regions—What Has Been Going Wrong? The Case of Extremadura (Spain)

Abstract

The article proposes a planning model to develop tourism from a holistic perspective that includes economic, population and social aspects. Following a participatory methodology, the objective of the study is to propose a tourism planning model that contributes to the development of rural territories based on the involvement of tourism planners in the study. A total of 205 tourism planners and 443 tourism offices participated in the study. The data obtained were analysed using the PLS-SEM method. The results indicate that tourism planning has to be carried out by a professional team with diverse technical profiles that monitors the objectives set and adapts them to changes in the environment.