Rural tourism and family farming:

A systematic literature review

Abstract

The interest in the rural environment has been intensifying in recent decades, thus enabling the expansion of tourism in rural areas. With a wide range of tourism offerings, there are multiple possibilities in segments such as ecotourism, cultural tourism, educational tourism, and family farming, among others. Rural tourism in family farming is highlighted in this article, as it encompasses two of the keywords used in its construction. This research is a systematic literature review of an exploratory nature, aiming to analyze studies published between 2016 and 2020 using the combination of the terms <rural tourism> and <family farming> in the Web of Science and Tourism Publications databases. These two databases allowed an understanding of the studies published in the Brazilian and international scenarios. The results show a trend towards a qualitative approach, in which methods such as interviews, participant observation, and literature review are more prominent, in addition to the interpretation of tourism as a possibility of development for the rural population, developing through pluriactivity. Finally, this study provides an overview of the methods used in the research and highlights the prominent journals in which the studies were published, i.e., Rosa dos Ventos - Turismo e Hospitalidade and Tourism Management.