Connecting RURAL to the World – Episode No. 2: Isabel Sánchez Tejado, Communicator and Rural Advocate

In this episode, we speak with Isabel Sánchez Tejado, founder of the School of Generative Tourism and host of the podcast Mundo Rural en Positivo, about the model she has developed to transform rural territories at risk of depopulation into sustainable tourism destinations. The generative tourism model Isabel proposes is based on three pillars: (1) Working with sustainability criteria (2) Working with the entire community and (3) Protecting the rural way of life.

Enjoy the episode on YouTube or Spotify

“Rural tourism must be generative”

Episode Transcript

Pedro Abad, CEO of Asteo Red Neutra (PA): On this occasion, we open our space to one of the people who knows the rural world from the perspective of tourism best, and that is Isabel Sánchez Tejado. Isabel, welcome.

Let’s do a brief introduction of who Isabel is. You define yourself as a rural activist, rural tourism specialist, and also founder of the School of Generative Tourism. That’s quite a start—it gives us plenty to discuss. Please explain these terms a bit.

Isabel Sánchez Tejado, School of Generative Tourism (Isabel): I specialized in rural tourism because I understood that the rural world is a place where there is an extremely important problem dating back to the last century, the 20th century, which is depopulation, and I believe each of us must do what we can in our field. So I understood that I could contribute in a small way if I managed to make rural tourism the economic engine in those territories. That was the challenge or the way I chose to live my life in the rural world—that vision of how I could help territories at risk of depopulation have some tool to create an economic engine that is otherwise dormant.

(PA): We have many things to discuss today, but founder of the School of Generative Tourism. What is generative tourism? Explain it to us properly.

(Isabel): Let’s get to it. I started working in the rural world in 2010. I have a background from another phase of my life, but I began working in the rural world in 2010. I started working in territories on a voluntary basis with associations, especially in Gredos Norte, where what needed to be done was to work in those territories to create strategies. I created working groups and realized that I could contribute the knowledge I had from previously working in multinational companies and firms that give you a kind of mental structure for work and projects, and I could contribute that, but those who really knew the territory were those who lived there. So I started working with them and creating that mix—I contributed one thing and they contributed the other. This was successful and it really defined me somewhat, because other territories that saw how the Sierra de Gredos was evolving said, “I want the same thing,” but at that point I said, “Well, now I’m going to charge for this”—let’s professionalize it a bit. When the pandemic arrived in 2020, there was a complete halt—I couldn’t do anything—but I started to realize that everything I did had a method, and beyond having a purpose, it had a method. Whenever I arrived in a territory, the first thing I did was analyze and work with the people.

I don’t know, protect the rural way of life, make everything sustainable, etc. So I said: “Wow, this is what I need to do.” I enrolled in a master’s program to formalize this and make it more professional, and I created what we call the generative tourism model. What is it? It’s really a guide—the generative tourism model is a guide, a model that serves to transform rural territories at risk of depopulation into sustainable tourism destinations. It’s designed specifically for the rural world. Why? Because it rests on three very specific pillars that are very easy to understand: the first pillar is working with sustainability criteria. What does this mean? Sustainability is not only environmental—sustainability is also economic, social, and about using the resources the territory already has. There is nothing more sustainable than working with the water the territory has, with the landscape the territory has, with the spectacular sky, with the clean air.

Those are the assets and resources the rural world has, and in abundance. The rural world may not have people, but what it does have is exquisite and tremendous wealth—that’s what I work with. That’s one thing—sustainability criteria. The second pillar is working with the entire community. You cannot go to a territory and, as I said before, the ones who really know what’s happening in the territory are the inhabitants and those who are there—the town councils, the local action groups, but also the neighborhood associations, business associations, homemakers’ associations, etc. Everyone—the public sector and the private sector. And the third pillar, no less important, is that you must do all of this with the goal of protecting the rural way of life. Why? Because without agriculture and livestock there is no landscape, and also, if you only develop tourism, what you do is turn that town, that territory, into a theme park for people to visit, and then on Monday when you go there, there’s no one, and some towns give us that example of how tourism alone has been developed and there really is no rural way of life, and that’s the worst thing that can happen, because if there’s one thing that defines rural tourism, it’s the authenticity of the towns. If we lose that, we’ve lost the essence of what rural tourism is. That’s why I call it generative—because what I’m trying to do is generate wealth in the rural world, but also generate social changes, because by working with everyone, it generates that social change where people get involved in projects and make them their own. It generates economic changes, obviously.

The first ones interested are the entrepreneurs who are working for the territory and who sign on to these kinds of approaches, and then it generates other types of changes.

(PA): What a beautiful concept, because it also emphasizes or reinforces that connection of the rural world with the origin of that tourist, which is the urban world most of the time.

(Isabel): Exactly. But also, it’s unthinkable that rural tourism could exist if there weren’t people in the cities. I’m not trying to separate the two worlds—I think both coexist, both make sense for each other. The urban world couldn’t live if there were no rural world because it wouldn’t have anything to eat—that’s clear. But the rural world also wouldn’t have anything to do since it wouldn’t have anyone to feed. But in terms of tourism, it’s very obvious—there is no rural tourism if there aren’t people in the city who want to enjoy a few days of that advantage of being in the countryside for a while.

(PA): And how do you think this type of new rural tourism helps revalue the cultural and natural heritage found in the rural world?

(Isabel): Well, in the end, I think we have evolved quite a bit, and tourists now have a different perception. Now what they’re looking for is precisely that—they’re looking for experiences that are more authentic. That tourist who used to go to a rural house and just go and come back—no, now they’re trying to understand what’s really there, to be part of that ecosystem. I think that’s what differentiates tourism now from before, and I think it’s a bit of a return to the origins, because if we talk about the origins of tourism, early 19th century or so, people traveled to learn about other cultures—they didn’t go like now, where many people go to a restaurant, order food, take an Instagram photo, and then leave without understanding what’s happening in that town. Now I think there are very defined profiles of people who are trying to get closer to that rural way of life, and they do it by getting to know it. My publications always say: talk to the people there. When you go to a town, talk to them and try to understand why they live there, how they live, what concerns them, because they’re going to tell you fascinating stories, and you’re going to be part of that ecosystem, and you’re going to better understand what the rural world is, and you’re going to break those stereotypes.

(PA): Well, Isabel, when you define generative tourism, you associate it with the term sustainability, and if you’ll allow me, we also include the term inclusion, which is very contextualized. What does a rural territory need to become a sustainable tourist destination, primarily?

(Isabel): For me, there’s one thing that’s extremely important, and I touched on it earlier—it’s important that they be territories capable of generating tourism products with the resources they already have. That’s the most sustainable thing in the world.

What do I do when I go to territories? I’ll give you two examples: there are territories where the landscape is spectacular—for example, in Gredos Norte in the months of May and June, a broom plant called piorno blooms and turns everything yellow—it dyes everything yellow. Well, that’s there. What you have to do is: What do I do with this? So you create a tourism product called the Piorno Festival with many activities, many things, etc. That is, you’re taking advantage of something that was already there, that no one paid attention to, and making the most of it so others can go enjoy it.

In another territory that had a spectacular sky, we got tourism certification with a foundation, with the Starlight Foundation, and sky observation, viewpoints, and so on. That’s it—you already had that. That’s the most sustainable thing in the world.

(PA): And what changes have you observed, Isabel? In these territories where you’ve already managed to implement these types of generative tourism initiatives, what changes—are there already tangible changes? Is there more population, more economic activity, more activity? How do you see it?

(Isabel): There is much more activity. It’s true—many more initiatives are generated around tourism. For example, I have seen in some territories where there are more local guides—local guides, which is a profession that didn’t exist. The rural guide didn’t exist. However, if you give them training where you explain how to be a generative tourist and how they can create an itinerary that really involves the rural way of life for those tourists who come, and they’re going to get paid—they’re going to be able to live from that—well, obviously there you have the answer. Or with sky observation, also stellar monitors who do sky interpretation at night—by the way, a magnificent and very sustainable product, because in addition to being sustainable in the entire definition of the product, the person who goes to observe the sky has to sleep. That is, that’s a very interesting tourist because they move the economy much more, because by having to sleep in the territory, they’re staying overnight as many times as—it’s a complementary product to the rest of the tourism products or activities you can do in the rural world.

(PA): We’re talking in this case about tourism and putting the tourist as the subject, as the actor. And… What about the population, the residents, the locals, as we called them before? How do they get involved in these generative tourism projects?

(Isabel): Well, there’s a bit of everything. I’ll tell you that many times you go with tremendous enthusiasm and you find there’s apathy. Other times, no—quite the opposite—they’re eager for you to give them a channel, because what is true and common in all territories is that, truly, despite the perception that there’s apathy in the rural world, that people don’t work and such, everyone is eager to work for their territory—everyone. And what do we do? Well, instead of giving them a blank page—that is, for you to participate, it’s not about what occurs to you—we give them a channel.

(PA): Well, let’s bring the element of technology into the conversation, then. What can technology do? Or what digital tools can you think of? I’m sure with that alert and active mind you have, what could we generate to precisely facilitate that generative tourism experience? To make it even more attractive for those who don’t yet know it, so they say, “Let’s go there physically.”

Isabel: Basically, it seems to me that the part—I always understand the tourism concept as the relationship with the client as a kind of circle. How can technology help? By understanding that the tourist has to know the destination before going. That is, when someone in Finnish Lapland is thinking about, I don’t know, seeing spectacular skies and thinks of Spain, they already have that information. But if that tourist likes what they see, if it’s well presented and technologically has all the possibilities to

be so, what they’re going to do is book their visit or experience through that technology. They’re not going to go to an agency or ask anyone—they’re going to book there. Therefore, technology continues to have an important role, but once they also enjoy that stay, where the person who is there—whether the hotel, the rural house, or the guide who has to do the tour, etc.—also has to have those tools at their disposal that allow them to serve that person in a proper way, in the sense of legality but also in a user-friendly way—something that helps them and also allows them to have data to make decisions for their business. So there, and then that tourist will have to give feedback. Therefore, technology also has a lot to do in that circuit, because the feedback has to be done through an app once they finish—they’re not going to fill out papers there. And once they’ve finished and left, what the tourist has to do is share their experience, their assessment with the rest of the world, and technology has to give them that possibility. I don’t know if you—it’s a circle.

(PA): You’re really setting me up here, if I may say so, because of course this leads me to ask you what about connectivity?

Isabel: We can’t do anything without all this. Connectivity is obvious. We couldn’t do anything if there were no connectivity, if we don’t have fiber everywhere. And if the rural world is isolated from that connectivity, we can’t do it. So if it has to be done, it has to be done, because those clients or tourists in the rural world don’t have to be served worse because there’s no technology. It’s obvious that we need to have good connectivity—a nice thick pipe so all the data can come through and we can have equal conditions. That’s where I think we need to fight for equality to be real.

(PA): At Asteo we talk about what’s called the social divide that occurs due to “non-connectivity”—that’s how we see the rural world unfortunately. Even though we’re in a country where we should be very proud of the level of connectivity we’ve achieved in recent years, leading European and global rankings, still, approximately 25% of rural territory is not connected. That’s a bit what we’re dedicated to. But well, returning to this connection between technology and tourism, Isabel, what would be the right balance? Because rural tourism, and especially generative tourism, is that in-situ experience, that integration, that inclusion, and technology can sometimes seem like a barrier. It’s… I’m distancing myself. What do you think is the right balance?

(Isabel): Based on what I’ve experienced, I’ve done some projects on what I call generative tourism itineraries, which involve including visits to the man who has a goat farm and makes cheese and also has something else, or the man who’s making blood sausages, or the man who has a bakery and teaches you to make bread, etc.

If you have that on a website where you explain that, I think it’s magnificent, especially because it’s giving you prior information. If then when you go the experience is also good, there you go—you don’t have to—technology affects in that sense because the person who has their phone and wants to say something about it is going to post it.

Right? But it doesn’t lose authenticity, okay? And then afterwards, they’ll also have to have a place where they can respond to questions if they want to give feedback, etc. So it doesn’t lose—if technology is used well, it’s a very powerful tool for that authenticity to remain so and to give more visibility to that authenticity.

(PA): A question about your life choice, your life project—why did you choose to focus on rural tourism? Because setting up the school and also focused on this very specific area—what was the motivation that led you to…? This was surely not an easy decision.

(Isabel): It wasn’t easy. I come from, curiously, technology companies. I worked for 30 years in consulting firms and technology companies—I worked at IBM, at PricewaterhouseCoopers, at a Spanish company called Meta4 that had very powerful software.

In short, technology companies, and I was always in sales or marketing or communications departments—it was always my project. And of course, the truth is that changing wasn’t easy, but at a certain point, when I—I don’t know—I took the plunge and set up my own company. I set up my own company with such bad luck that it was in 2006, and in 2008 a crisis came that I imagine everyone is aware of. I was left with nothing—I couldn’t do much more than pick up my pieces, and I went to cry at my house in the Sierra de Gredos. And of course, there came a point when I said, “Okay, this crying is fine, but let’s see,” and I had a very good conversation with my older brother, who is very important to me—family is very important to me. I spoke with my brother, who is a very important person to me, and he told me, “Look, you were on a runaway horse going full speed, and someone hit you and knocked you off the horse, and now you’re on the ground in pain because you’ve been hit. I understand that you’re crying, but don’t cry anymore—don’t play the victim anymore and start being the actress of your life.” And it hit me at that moment when sometimes you understand things, and at that moment I couldn’t be more destroyed—I couldn’t go lower—and I said, “It’s true.” And then I started thinking, and notice something very interesting: I actually started writing at night what I really didn’t want to do. I started thinking, “Look, I’m 50-something, I have to reinvent myself, if I have to start from scratch,” and my brother told me, “It’s the only time in your life, Isabel, that you’re going to be able to decide what to do with your life, because until now you haven’t been able to,” and it’s true. We had the misfortune that our parents died when we were very young, and we had to keep the wheel turning because we had to pay bills, we had to live, we had to do things, and so life carried us along. And of course, there comes a point when it’s true—I could do whatever I wanted because I was starting from scratch.

I was choosing—I felt I had that capacity to approach the next stage of my life from whatever perspective I wanted. I could stay there as a victim of what had happened to me, of a tremendous crisis, of being left with nothing, or my attitude was, “Let’s see what we can get out of this,” and I chose the second option. And I think, well, I’m very happy. I think the best decision I’ve made in my life is to stay in Gredos, because that was one of the premises I set for myself: if I do something, it has to be from Gredos, from where I live. If I do something, it will be what I can do, because my previous experience had been very bad with people—when you start a venture, it’s very difficult for other people to have the same level of commitment as you in a project. So for me that was a very painful experience, and I said, “Well, let’s forget about that. What I can handle, I’ll do,” and that way, well, I think it hasn’t turned out badly. And why rural tourism? I already told you earlier—in the end, living there, it was very easy for me to help the business association and start working voluntarily, and then that became a profession, basically.

(PA): A profession and a whole very rewarding life project, as we’re seeing. To connect with this explanation of how that change happened, I think it would be very valuable for the people who are watching or listening to us right now for you to also give us your perspective now. What is your perspective on your previous life? From that current world where you’ve created through that courage, that innovation, that entrepreneurship—how are you seeing the life you had before?

(Isabel): I’m better now than before, without a doubt—physically, mentally. I think this is the best moment of my life. The best moment is always the one I’m living—this moment I’m really enjoying, doing the interview with you. I think it’s important to maintain that sense of the present permanently, and living in nature has given me that—that sense that everything is ephemeral. When you’re watching a sunset, it’s just seconds. So the next day there might be another one, but maybe not. So enjoy it in that moment.

That’s my vision—and before, I don’t think I had that perception of how to live life. It was a permanent hamster wheel. So I think now I enjoy more, I think I can be reasonably happy, understanding happiness as those moments of enjoyment.

(PA): So how do you see life in the rural world? Can you conclude that it’s viable and also enriching?

(Isabel): Without a doubt. For me, the rural world has a lot of opportunities that are still untapped, but truly there are thousands of people who are capable of understanding that the rural world is full of opportunities that need to be exploited, and I suggest everyone go and see it. And if not, that’s fine—not everyone has to be a rural person. You can be perfectly urban and that’s fine. But there are many people who are still afraid. Get rid of the fear, go to the rural world, enjoy, because the future is also in the rural world.

(PA): Certainly, that’s the clear headline: the future is in the rural world.

– END –

Don’t miss a single episode! Subscribe now to our podcast on YouTube or Spotify
and be the first to hear the latest