sustainability of rural tourism in Şavşat districh: A research on local people's perception and support

This research aims to examine the relationship between the perceptions of individuals living in Şavşat district of Artvin province towards rural tourism and their support for tourism. Considering the importance of the perceptions of local people in line with the understanding of the sustainability of rural tourism, the relationship between the levels of support they give to tourism in economic, socio-cultural and environmental dimensions was analysed. Within the scope of quantitative research method, a face-to-face questionnaire was applied to 414 participants selected by convenience sampling technique, and the data obtained were analysed by statistical methods. According to the results of the analyses, significant differences were found in the attitudes of local people towards tourism between gender, monthly income, marital status, educational status, duration of life in Şavşat and place of residence. Within the scope of the research, it was concluded that the level of local people's support for rural tourism is significantly related to economic and socio-cultural perceptions. In addition, environmental perceptions were also found to be statistically significantly related to the level of support of local people for rural tourism, but the level of this effect was more limited compared to other dimensions. The correlation findings show that rural tourism perceptions are not completely independent from each other, but the levels of support for tourism differ in the relationship between them.