Abstract:

Abstract In our day, rural tourism is seen as one of the main building blocks of rural development. Rural tourism provides a sustainable development by increasing the employment, income and investments of the human in rural areas. Moreover, it is also encourages the preservation of rural heritage and ensures that it is passed on to future generations, increasing the awareness of forgotten cultural values. In addition, via of realization of rural development, migration is decreasing from rural areas to cities. In this regard, particularly in Gümüşhane province, due to the increase of immigration to urban areas from rural areas and the decrease in population of many villages, it is being increased the importance of rural tourism for Gümüşhane. The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions about rural tourism of the local people who living in Zigana village of Torul district of Gümüşhane. In addition to this, determining the rural tourism potential of Gümüşhane province is the another purpose of the study. The study was designed with a qualitative approach and utilized secondary sources and semi-structured interview technique to collect data. The sample of the work consists of 15 local residents and local tourism entrepreneurs residing in Zigana village. According to results of the study, it has been determined that the local people who reside in Zigana have positive views on rural tourism and they wish to develop rural tourism in this region. And also local people, emphasizing the necessity of infrastructure investments in the village, in the process of rural tourism development, they wish to create the necessary conditions for the villages to get a larger share of rural tourism.

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