Co-operatives in southern Spain: their development in the rural tourism sector in Andalucía

✍ Scribed by Michael Barke; John Eden

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 117 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1099-2340
• DOI: 10.1002/jtr.311

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This paper examines the characteristics of a number of recently established rural tourism co‐operatives in Andalucía, southern Spain against the background of the theory of co‐operatives as economic organisations. The origins and composition of the co‐operatives are examined, their local impact, their policies on employment and remuneration, and their internal management characteristics. Few of the businesses in the sample appear to possess the characteristics of the ‘ideal type’ of co‐operative identified in the literature. Although small‐scale, beneficial impacts may be identified within their localities, these appear to be no different to those associated with any small business organisation in the rural tourism sector. Furthermore, it is concluded that their prospects for developing genuine alternative forms of employment structures are not strong, partly owing to the circumstances of their foundation and partly because of the very nature of rural tourism itself, where extreme seasonality imposes a very specific labour regime. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.