After the Costa del Sol, the traditional mass tourist destination in Southern Spain started to become saturated many travellers started to look for alternative destinations. This change in tourism behaviour was not only motivated by the saturation, but also the increasing degradation of their natural setting of the Mediterranean coastline.
Soon the rural inland areas of traditional destinations like Malaga or Almeria started to notice an increase in the number of inquiries for places to stay. The local government of Andaluca saw in rural tourism an opportunity to reactivate the economy of small inland villages and hamlets which had been suffering from a decreasing population due to the lack of opportunities for the young people. Traditionally the rural areas of Andaluca solely depended on the extensive agriculture which generates very few man-hours of work during the year.
With the help of Spanish and EU funding many villagers started to restore abandoned houses and converted them into country houses, modern cottages with ancient style or traditional fincas and haciendas. Like in many inland areas the rural population of Andaluca is fairly experienced constructors...