A Typology of Hosts in Housing Tourism
José Luís Braga and Marta Dionísio
1 Introduction
The practice of spending the summer in European rural areas dates back to the last
century of the Roman Republic, having been revitalized centuries later by the Renaissance man, during the Italian Quattrocento (Boyer 2007; Cavaco 2003). However, the
management of rural areas for recreational purposes appeared only in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries when certain elites were dedicated to deer and partridge
hunting in their farmsteads.
The innovation of seasonal holiday organization took place in the eighteenth
century, in England. This invention (Boyer 2007) constituted a manifestation by the
landowning aristocracy of its superiority and an expression of the values of idleness
towards the rising class of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie. As a result,
the practices and places of holiday corresponded to the need for social distinction.
However, in the nineteenth century, the countryside began to be visited by daytrippers from the urban middle class, usually attracted by bucolic images represented in painting, poetry or novels. The development of the railway, from the midnineteenth century, would allow a safer access to the most remote and attractive rural
areas (Roberts and Hall 2001).
In Portugal, visits to rural areas for recreational purposes were initially confined to
the elite and to the existence of secondary family residences that had once belonged
to their ancestors. These privileged classes, however, had moved to the big cities but
returned seasonally in the summer or during the grape harvest (Menezes 2000). Until
the eighties of the last century, only foreign hikers visited the villages as tourists.
J. L. Braga (B) · M. Dionísio
Departmental Unit of Social Sciences, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Quinta do Contador.
Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal
e-mail: jlbraga@ipt.pt
M. Dionísio
e-mail: marta.dionisio@ipt.pt
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_13
185
José Luís Braga and Marta Dionísio
1 Introduction
The practice of spending the summer in European rural areas dates back to the last
century of the Roman Republic, having been revitalized centuries later by the Renaissance man, during the Italian Quattrocento (Boyer 2007; Cavaco 2003). However, the
management of rural areas for recreational purposes appeared only in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries when certain elites were dedicated to deer and partridge
hunting in their farmsteads.
The innovation of seasonal holiday organization took place in the eighteenth
century, in England. This invention (Boyer 2007) constituted a manifestation by the
landowning aristocracy of its superiority and an expression of the values of idleness
towards the rising class of the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie. As a result,
the practices and places of holiday corresponded to the need for social distinction.
However, in the nineteenth century, the countryside began to be visited by daytrippers from the urban middle class, usually attracted by bucolic images represented in painting, poetry or novels. The development of the railway, from the midnineteenth century, would allow a safer access to the most remote and attractive rural
areas (Roberts and Hall 2001).
In Portugal, visits to rural areas for recreational purposes were initially confined to
the elite and to the existence of secondary family residences that had once belonged
to their ancestors. These privileged classes, however, had moved to the big cities but
returned seasonally in the summer or during the grape harvest (Menezes 2000). Until
the eighties of the last century, only foreign hikers visited the villages as tourists.
J. L. Braga (B) · M. Dionísio
Departmental Unit of Social Sciences, Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Quinta do Contador.
Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal
e-mail: jlbraga@ipt.pt
M. Dionísio
e-mail: marta.dionisio@ipt.pt
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Lubowiecki-Vikuk et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustainable Development and Leisure
Services, World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59820-4_13
185