Rural tourism is an important part of China's rural development in the new century and the and However, with the problem existing in rural tourism, the concept, significance, classification and development model of rural tourism is immature and controversial in China.
The author divides the paper into three parts. In the first part, rural tourism's concept is given. In the second part, taking European rural tourism as an experience, the background of international rural tourism is reviewed in brief. The experience of international rural tourism is studied from several aspects, i.e. from the functional orientation and the classification of rural tourism, from the character and extent of government's in terference, form the relationship between municipal government and the country community in rural tourism governance. In the third part, based on the experience of international rural tourism development, combined with Chinese present situation, guided by the policy of sustainable development,the paper concludes that there are salient differences in rural tourism development between mainland China and European countries because of existing tourism administrative system, social and economic condition and cultural tradition etc. However, it is necessary and probable to learn from the international experience to develop China's rural tourism. In the end, some issues including orientation, law and regulation system, community participation, forms and cooperation mechanism are pointed out for further discussion in hope to benefit the development of rural tourism in China.