La “percezione” della ruralità nelle scelte turistiche della componente urbana della società: un tentativo di stima e analisi

This paper shows the result of an analysis on the perception and the "demand" of rurality by a group of urban citizens. From a methodological point of view the study was structured into two parts: the first was oriented to detect, through a qualitative approach (focus group technique), the most relevant attributes of rurality in the perception of a potential urban residents. In the second step of the analysis these attributes have been used to built up a set of rural holiday alternatives to be test in a choice experiment with a group of urban consumers. A Multinomial Logit (MNL) model has been implemented to estimate the demand of rurality and the relations between attributes of rurality and consumer/tourist preferences. The obtained results allowed us to evaluate the role of urban citizen perceptions of rurality in a wider sense and to use them as strategic elements to promote a rural development actions based on the fruition of open-space, cultural heritage, landscape and agricultural activities.