Traditionally Spain is a touristic country, and Andalusia is a highlighting zone in this sector. Rural tourism is configured as a tourist typology with strong potential for growth and impact on territorial development. However, if rural tourism takes place in rural areas, and Andalusia has three types of it, have these three types of rural tourism a different impact on territorial development? The answer will be developed in an introductory paragraph, a second section which analyzes the relationship between rural tourism and tourism supply in Andalusia, and in the third one, we evaluate the influence of the types of rural tourism on the Andalusian regional development. In the fourth section, we focus on rural areas that do not follow the pattern identified and their development policies. Finally, based on the foregoing, we conclude our study with an affirmative answer to the initial question.

Keywords: rural areas; rural tourist; territorial development.