Rural tourism is a form of nature based tourism that uncovers the rural life, culture, art and heritage at rural locations, thereby favoring the local communities socially and economically. Such form of tourism has created tremendous impact on the local economy and socio-cultural scenario of the concern area on one hand and carries a potential scope for the rural residents on the other hand. Rural tourism brings people of different culture, faiths, languages and life style, close to one another and it provide a broader outlook of life. It not only generates employment for the people but it also develops social, cultural and educational values. Rural tourism is an opportunity for rural development. Rural tourism is one of the opportunities that rural communities might consider to improve productivity and incomes.
Sustainable rural tourism can generate long term benefits for villagers.
Specific objective is to study opportunities on rural tourism development on existing strengths in a holistic approach by building sustainable interaction between the local communities and the natural environment
- To understand the potentialities of rural tourism in the study area.
- To identify various challenges of rural tourism.
- To find out the impact of rural tourism upon the socioeconomic
conditions of rural areas.
Principle organization of the research was the division of research areas in Prizren and Dragash Municipalities as the host of cultural heritage and tourism destination, and as tourist and visitor originating regions. For the purpose of this research, Prizren Municipality includes rural area of Zhupa. The rationale of the division of regions between destination/host and origin is based on the fact that research addresses specific population target groups relevant for the identification, understanding, assessment, protection, and development of cultural and natural tourism. Respectively, each category in the nodes of the dynamic tourism value chain is considered separately, such as: host population (Bed and Breakfast), host institutions of culture and local authorities, visiting tourists, and visitors as well as travel agencies in the destination region an in the originating region(s).
Surveys show that despite ever developing demand for rural tourism in Kosovo, this sector of the tourism industry does not grow well and even originality and authenticity of the most of rural attractions has not been effective in convincing rural tourists to choose South Kosovo as an ecotourism destination.
Natural attractions such as, mountains, lakes, rivers forests and etc.
and also farm-based attractions and methods for planting, growing and harvesting of agricultural products and deriving the extraction of herbs on one hand and art and handicrafts, archaeology and rural structures, customs and rural life style on the other hand can make the basis for development of this industry.
On the basis of the surveys, this sector of tourism needs careful attention to reinforcement of domestic rural tourism (by preparing supporting plans) and balanced and sustainable development of the rural areas.
ckprizreneu 