This paper intends to estimate the importance of tourism in the economy of rural areas. Considering previous analyses of rural dynamics, this paper focuses on tourism activity, analyzes the situation of Functional Economic Areas, and takes into account socioeconomic indicators as well as landscape features. Based on secondary data, resource like regions are defined, the local share of tourism employment is estimated, stylized facts regarding tourism indicators by cluster are produced, tourism-dependent FEAs are identified, and the relation between, on one hand, tourism indicators and resource variables, and on the other hand, regional growth indicators and tourism dependence, is studied.