Abstract:

Rural tourism is a type of tourism made in places where the local lifestyle continues, where agriculture is done, where local culture is preserved but where economic activities are limited. The southern coast of the Van Lake, a rural town with natural, cultural and historical values, has been selected as a research area due to these properties it carries. Thus, the purpose of the research was created in the framework of tourists visiting the site. Therefore, the first objective of the research is to reveal the demographic characteristics, travel habits, impressions and motivations of tourists visiting the southern coast of Lake Van. Furthermore, the other purpose of the research is to divide tourists into groups according to their demographic characteristics, travel habits and motivations. The universe of the research is made up of all indigenous tourists visiting the site along the southern coast of Lake Van. In this context, the quantitative research method was applied and 490 data were obtained with the survey technique between March 2016 and June 2019. According to the findings, tourists were gathered in four groups: “family travelers”, “satisfied”, “natural-cultural travelers” and “ rural travelers”, while motivating factors appeared as “learning and innovation”, “nature and culture”, “service and price”, “satisfaction and relaxation” and “ rural life”.

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