Determination of Tourism Potential of Rural Areas – the Case of Artvin-Arhavi

Arhavi district, the province of artvin, has historical, cultural and local values and important rural areas that can be opened to tourism with its natural beauty which have not been destroyed yet. to explore arhavi’s rural areas, in order to promote tourism by releasing the area’s historical, cultural and traditional value, will make important contributions to province and district. in the first part of our study, we have focused on the reasons of the development of rural tourism and the effects of tourism in rural development. in the second part, we have given detailed information about the touristic attractions of arhavi, the potential rural tourism values and existing cultural values of arhavi’s villages. in the last part of this study, evaluation has been made on the result and suggestions. related to the method of our research, firstly data was collected by comprehensive literature review. accordingly, the locations of the historical and natural structures which have touristic value of the region were selected according to the information obtained from the interwievs with the elders of the region (reeve, teacher, imam) in 30 villages of arhavi. at the end of this study, it is expected to draw touristic activities in these regions by revealing rural tourism values of arhavi. in this way, both rural areas will be opened to tourism and it will be beneficial for domestic and foreign tourists about the places to visit. generating an income from tourism of village people is among the expected results of this study.