In the countries of Western Europe, the development of rural tourism, primarily agro-tourism, began in the 1950s (France, Swirzerland) and the 1960s (Ireland, Great Britain, Austria, Italy). Initially, it was treated as one of the factors stimulating the economy of rural areas. It was assumed that this would lead to the creation of new sources of income for rural residents and the modernisation of technical infrastructure. Improving the living conditions in rural areas and increasing the number of jobs outside agriculture was expected to help lessen the scale of youth emigration to towns. It turned out, however, that people from other areas (the so-called new farmers nouveaux rureaux) took mare interest in the development of tourist facilities in rural areas than the indigenous population. Tourism developed mainly in areas with outstanding natural assets, attractive both for tourists and for incoming owners of accommodation facilities, who treated provision of tourist services as the main, and not subsidiary, source of income. Nonetheless, even in such areas the number of people emigrating to towns was much higher than the number of „nouveaux rureaux”. Depopulation of rural areas brought about the destruction of many old houses, which had been a significant component of the cultural landscape. The scheme to save historical monuments making up the world's cultural heritage, carried out under the auspices of UNESCO, has probably been one of the factors encouraging the local authorities to protect traditional architecture and preserving the traditional way of life, representing significant tourist assets of a particular location. In the 1990s, a new component appeared in in the EU programmes relating to the development of tourism in rural areas - protection of cultural heritage. More than twenty years' experience of Portugal and Spain in the implementation of various initiatives aimed to extend high-standard tourist facilities in rural areas prove that there is interest in such an offer among domestic and foreign tourists. The examples of creating new tourist facilities in the rural areas of Portugal and Spain, discussed in the paper, point to increased interest in using the residential resources of those areas while preserving the elements of traditional material and spiritual culture. People returning to northern Portugal and Galicia after many years' of economic emigration to the Western European countries have played an important role in transforming former farm buildings into tourist facilities. In the literature on rural tourism, a lot of attention is devoted to the role of women in organising tourists' stay, stressing in particular their efforts to ensure good conditions for rest and leisure. Interviews conducted by the author with the owners of new tourist facilities in the province of Segovia (Spain) indicate that it were women who were behind those projects and who accepted the bulk of responsibility, initially related to the refurbishment of buildings and later to the provision of tourist focilities. It seems justified to say that the shaping of indigenous tourist products drawing on the natural and cultural assets of the rural areas provides an opportunity to preserve or recreate many valuable objects of material culture and traditions, which the contemporary tourist seems to have interest in.
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