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Although studies on food and tourism have gained terrain within tourism research, especially in the last decade, the connections of food tourism with rural territories have remained underexplored. This is particularly significant in the context of an increasing recognition that food should be understood as a distinguishing feature of rural tourism destinations, at the same time as displaying specific heritage and traditions as and contributing to the development of rural territories. The intention of this article is to shed light on the connection between food tourism and rural territories by exploring its potential through a systematic literature review on this untapped topic. Based on 73 articles focusing on those connections, the paper reviews and further explores what is already known on the topic, examining the different research methodologies and approaches used, as well as the dimensions analysed and results obtained. Research on the links between food tourism and rural territories seems to be geographically marked and particularly relevant in Southern European countries (such as Spain and Italy), as well as in North America (mainly the USA). Impacts on local development, together with production and commercialization strategies, are the main dimensions analysed by the articles, revealing indeed some of the potential virtuous bonds deriving from the connection between tourism, food and rural territories.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the importance of the existing Ways of Saint James in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, in the northern interior of Portugal, and that being integrated in soft tourism, can constitute a mechanism that allows the revitalization of rural areas, especially the sparsely populated areas, because it allows a series of benefits such as the increase of tourists and pilgrims, the creation of new services, among other structures, thus boosting tourism development. Above all, these Paths linked to soft tourism, allow us to highlight the predominance of tourism linked to nature tourism and slow mobility. In order to carry out this study, the methodology used will be based on interviews to tourists and pilgrims in order to obtain testimonies that can characterise the impact of the Ways themselves on rural territories.

The project Cultrural+ (an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project in the field of Adult Education) is funding research and education to deal with major demographic challenges in some regions of the participant countries (Extremadura in Spain, Tràsos-Montes in Portugal, Central Massif in France, Thessaly in Greece and province of Latina in Italy). The paper will discuss the particular problems that European depopulated areas are facing and how cultural heritage and cultural tourism could act as resilience factors. Research is showing that though the different countries’ regions face similar demographic challenges, strategies and planned actions are different. The levels and indicators to measure and understand depopulation processes are also diverse, as are the levels of actualization of the data in each country. International comparative interdisciplinary research allows transfer of best practices cases and models as the “learning territories” and to deepen in the analysis and prospection of the socio-cultural major changes that are affecting the European countryside. This paper analyses the criteria that can help evaluate and acknowledge best practices.

The contemporary relevance of ensuring sustainable rural development is stipulated, on the one hand, by the growing economic and social backwardness of rural territories, and on the other hand by their ultimate importance for the nation in such issues as food security, preservation of soil and environmental resources, and the utilisation of agricultural, production and labour potentials. One of the key conditions of sustainable rural development is sufficient employment which provides rural inhabitants with a sustainable income which is competitive in comparison to urban territories. This paper includes an analysis of the current problems of rural development, based on the example of the Stavropol Region, one of the most agricultural regions of Russia; the paper addresses threats to sustainable rural development such as unemployment and depopulation, and substantiates the practicality of diversification of traditional rural sources of income by means of tourism and other alternative activities.