Rurality and Tourism in Transition: How Digitalization Transforms the Character and Landscape of the Tourist Economy in Rural Morocco

Abstract

The character of rural Morocco is changing due to increasing tourism and social media usage. This paper outlines the different consequences of ICT usage among people working in the tourism sector as part of the transitional economy in a remote area. In this region, tourism has grown into one major income sources for a few valley inhabitants – mostly men with a school education, digital and language skills, and who are financially stable. As this transitional economy evolves alongside digitalization and ICT usage and therefore a change of the region’s rural character, it leads to challenges and concerns for the local population. This ethnographic study analyzes the interdependence of increasing tourism through digitalization and the notion of rurality as a resource from a sociotechnical perspective.