Revista Portuguesa de Estudos Regionais, n.º 36, 2014, 2.º Quadrimestre TOURISM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL DESTINATIONS: A STAKEHOLDERS’ VIEW 1 TURISMO E DESENVOLVIMENTO SUSTENTÁVEL DE DESTINOS RURAIS: UMA VISÃO DOS STAKEHOLDERS Celeste Eusébio celeste.eusebio@ua.pt (corresponding author) Assistant Professor at the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering. Full researcher at GOVCOPP – Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies. University of Aveiro Elisabeth Kastenholz elisabethk@ua.pt Associate Professor at the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering. Full researcher at GOVCOPP – Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies. University of Aveiro Zélia Breda zelia@ua.pt Assistant Professor at the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering. Full researcher at GOVCOPP – Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies. University of Aveiro ABSTRACT/RESUMO 1 The paper was elaborated within the scope of a three-year research project entitled “The overall rural tourism experience and sus- tainable local community development” (PTDC/CS-GEO/104894/2008), financed by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (co-financed by COMPETE, QREN and FEDER), which started in June 2010 (see also http://cms.ua.pt/orte/). The topic of sustainable development has become an increasingly popular field of research since the late 1980s, as a result of the report Our Common Future, which sug- gests the satisfaction of the current generation’s needs without affecting those of future generations. Rural tourism has been identified as potentially contributing to sustaina- ble development, guaranteeing the satisfaction of all stake- holders, both from the demand and supply side, without jeopardizing natural, cultural and social resources. How- ever, there is empirical evidence pointing at a relatively modest role of rural tourism as a development tool, with this potential depending on several factors. It is in this context that the present paper analyses the views of sev- eral stakeholders of rural tourism in the Portuguese schist village Janeiro de Cima (visitors, residents, private sector supply agents, and local and regional tourism planning en- tities), regarding the tourism phenomenon in the village and its implications on sustainable development. These views were obtained through a qualitative approach, in- A temática do desenvolvimento sustentável aumentou a sua popularidade, como área de investigação, desde finais de 1980, em resultado da publicação do relatório O Nosso Futuro Comum, o qual sugere um modelo de desenvol- vimento que satisfaça as necessidades das gerações atuais sem comprometer a capacidade das gerações futuras para satisfazerem as suas próprias necessidades. O turismo rural tem sido identificado como um tipo de turismo que poderá contribuir para o desenvolvimento sustentável dos destinos, garantindo a satisfação de todos os stakeholders, tanto do lado da procura como do lado da oferta, sem comprome- ter os recursos naturais, culturais e sociais dos destinos. No entanto, algumas evidências empíricas que têm sido publi- cadas revelam que o turismo rural, muitas vezes, tem um papel relativamente modesto como instrumento de desen- volvimento, em consequência de um conjunto de fatores. Neste contexto, este artigo analisa as perceções dos vários stakeholders (visitantes, residentes, agentes da oferta do se- tor privado e entidades responsáveis pelo planeamento do