Rural tourism is becoming popular in Taiwan among both farmers and visitors. It is becoming a new type of agricultural management for farmers. In view of the impact on farm incomes from international free trade, it is important to help farmers increase the profitability of their farms, as well as improving the quality of rural life. Looking at the effect of rural tourism in Nantou County, not only has there been a development of tourist farms around Luku and Shinyi, but also local communities have been revitalized. The potential of rural tourism to attract visitors is strong, especially now that Taiwan is implementing a policy of two days off every other week. In future, the 35 recreational spots of Nantou County will be connected into a complete network which will integrate farmers, rural villages, and agriculture (Hong, 1998).
• Examples of Rural Tourism in Denmark
Fieldwork was conducted in three Danish rural municipalities: Rangstup in inland South Jutland, Ryslinge in the heart of Funen, and coastal Stevns in South-East Zealand. Rangstrup offers plenty of accommodation, mainly holiday cottages and campsites, but almost no named sights or attractions. When the authors inquired at the local tourism information, the attractions suggested were all located outside the municipality. In contrast, Ryslinge municipality has almost no commercial accommodation but boasts the mega – attraction of Egeskov castle, complete with moat, extensive gardens, museums and exhibitions, located in a romantic rural landscape, and attracting more than 250.000 visitors in the season. The third municipality, Stevns, faals between the two above extremes in that it displays several attractions, and a reasonable capacity and variety of commercial accommodation, camp sites, hotels and holiday cottages. None of the three municipalities offered many opportunities for farm-stays or the like (Hall, Roberts & Mitchell, 2005).
The municipalities posses the recreational opportunities that private and public forests offer, within the restrictions that public use of such areas is subjected to in Denmark. Furthermore, Rangstrup has golf courses and put-and-take fishing, while Stevens, the anly littoral municipality of the three, has fine beaches. All three municipalities are criss-crossed by regional and national bicycle routes, while a national scenic route designed for motoring passes through Ryslinge and Stevns, but not Rangstrup. In total, the three municipalities reflect the diversified distribution of facilities for rural tourism and recreation in Denmark (Hall, Roberts & Mitchell, 2005).
