RAZVOJNI POTENCIJAL RURALNOG TURIZMA ODABRANIH LOKALNIH SAMOUPRAVA U ISTOČNOJ REPUBLICI SRPSKOJ

Abstract

Tourism, as part of the tertiary sector and the fastest growing segment of the world economy, contributes to the reduction of unemployment, the opening of new businesses, the development of infrastructure, and it also encourages the development of complementary sectors. Developing tourism in rural areas achieves numerous goals, such as encouraging the production of healthy (organic) food, protecting natural resources, forming a market for local producers and, in general, increasing the GDP per capita of the local population. This paper analyzes the supply, potential and resources of rural tourism in the Upper Drina region, i.e. municipalities of Foča, Višegrad, Rogatica, Čajniče and Novo Goražde. The aim of this paper is to determine the importance of the development of rural tourism for the recovery and development of the whole economy in the observed region, as well as to point out the shortcomings that hinder the development of rural tourism. The main hypothesis is that the Upper Drina region has a rich and diverse potential for the development of rural tourism, which is insufficiently used. Several auxiliary hypotheses were, also, formulated. The most important is that efficient rural tourism can contribute to the economic development of the Upper Drina region by solving the unemployment problem and encouraging the development of other economic sectors. The research was conducted through a survey, using a sample method of 100 respondents, who were selected using a targeted method, and who are directly or indirectly related to tourism. The paper gives a theoretical overview of rural tourism, with an adequate literature review. Then the characteristics of rural tourism in the Republic of Srpska were presented, and, the last part of paper analyzes rural tourism in the Upper Drina region.