Determination of Rural People’s Perspectives on Rural Tourism in Rural Areas: An Empirical Research on Iznik and Orhangazi Rural Settlements

Abstract

When alternative tourism types are analyzed, it is seen that rural tourism is the most developed tourism type in recent years. Thus, according to UNWTO data, rural tourism has become an important type of tourism in Europe with an increase of 6% despite a 2% increase in general. The most important reasons for this are the desire to get rid of the stressful metropolitan life and the need for the nature of today’s people. This situation has started to create an intense tourist demand especially towards rural areas close to metropolitan areas. In our country, It’s observed that the demand for rural areas is increasing day by day especially during holidays.The main population of the study is the rural settlements of İznik and Orhangazi districts, which are very close to Istanbul. The sample consisted of 229 people who live in rural districts of these districts and were easily selected by sampling method. In this context, this study aimed to determine the point of view of local people living in İznik and Orhangazi region on economic, social, cultural and environmental effects of rural tourism. The explanatory effect of the point of view of rural tourism on the support to rural tourism activities was also examined. The findings of the research reveal that the social impacts of rural tourism are perceived relatively negatively by the local people and that the perceived dimensions differ according to the variables of age, education and whether or not they have knowledge about rural tourism. It was determined that the point of view of rural tourism has a significant explanatory effect on the support given to rural tourism