Local community involvement in rural tourism development: The case of Kastamonu, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential of local stakeholders in developing a rural tourism product. With this aim, a traditional harvest day event was initiated by the researchers and the event was organized and set up by the local stakeholders. Kastamonu, a rural destination in Turkey with a great potential for but with very limited rural tourism development, was selected for the conduct of this harvest day event. Participant observations and in-depth interviews are used to identify the factors that facilitate involvement of the local community in rural tourism product deve- lopment. The results are expected to provide insights for the development of a framework relating to the assessment of the potential for sustainable rural tourism development in a given area.

Keywords

• Rural tourism
• Sustainable tourism
• Local stakeholders
• Resident attitudes
• Kastamonu
• Turkey