**Author details**

*Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development*

The analysis of RT as a catalyst for growth cannot be detached from discussion of the ´new´ regional policy philosophy, which emphasizes endogenous development, the intensification of the economic-social modernization processes taking place in the global arena and the affirmation of the neo-liberal paradigm. Due to the growing resistance to further financial transfers (From the European Union), it may eventually be impossible to justify further public investment. However, some peripheral regions may not ever reach minimum levels of economic and social viability, and any progress in terms of minimization of market inefficiencies, (a key argument of the neo-liberal orthodoxy against the current state of affairs on islands), optimal policy formulation and efficient application of all funds available will demand further "public investment". A sudden reduction in the amount of financial transfers in the middle of an on-going process of modernisation may stop the momentum in terms of economic and institutional modernisation. Further research is needed to understand tourism development in line with the new development paradigm faced by islands and further research is needed to estimate how much people are willing to pay for maintaining aesthetical pleasant landscapes.

In conclusion, RT is not performing the expected "developmental/regenerative" role [14], neither is a "counterpoint to mass, package-type tourism". The evidence provided so far, rejects the over-optimistic approach regarding RT [25] as the sector impacts only marginally upon the economic prosperity of rural areas. If successful, the RT sector may offer a rescue to the overall tourism industry in Madeira facing

Operators should be encouraged to develop cooperative strategies in order to promote the sector and to share resources and fixed costs by negotiating with other

Tourism development offers the opportunity to test new business models. This study offers an excellent opportunity to examine the current efforts to develop alternative market segments in a mature and consolidated destination. And this study also pledges for an integrated approach to understand RT development.

increasing pressure from cheaper and more dynamic destinations.

(tourism agencies, operators).

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António Almeida1 and Luiz Pinto Machado2 \*

1 Universidade da Madeira, Funchal, Portugal

2 Universidade da Madeira and CEFAGE-Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics

\*Address all correspondence to: luizpintomachado@staff.uma.pt

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
