JOURNAL OF FOOD AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT, cilt.8, sa.3-4, ss.973-975, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Turkey has very important potential for rural tourism according to agricultural and geographical regions. Rural tourism also covers human and environmental resources, and therefore focuses on people and the environment and community development. Rural extension is aimed to raise the living standard of the rural families in all rural areas and there is close relation between rural tourism and rural extension. Rural tourism presents very important opportunities as an alternative income source for the rural family and rural community development. Tourism is recognized as travel that people do out of their regular environment for periods of time less than 12 months, for pleasure, business or other aims. In the paper, it is discussed impacts and roles of rural extension on the development of rural tourism in rural areas, and relations among extension, agriculture, nature, tourism and rural economy and people etc. Especially there is big potential for domestic tourists in the middle period and also for international tourists in the long period. Generally roles and impacts of the extension for rural tourism development in Turkey were investigated.