The effect of EU supports on rural tourism development in TRC region

The tourism sector is an important source of income in the TRC Region, where rural life continues intensively and whose economy is predominantly based on agriculture. It is observed that cultural tourism activities, which mostly include city centers, take place in the region, which has historical and cultural diversity due to its location. Rural areas, where local cultures struggle to survive, appear as areas that migrate due to various reasons, especially economic concerns. In this context, rural tourism activities come to the fore in order to slow down the rate of migration in rural areas, to ensure the sustainability of local cultures and to increase the tourism diversity of the region. The aim of this thesis is to examine the transformation of rural tourism on the axis of rural development in the TRC Region in terms of eliminating interregional development differences in the process of harmonization with the EU and to determine priorities for sustainable rural tourism. In this context, investments in rural tourism and recreational activities, which were supported by the Agricultural Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK) within the scope of IPARD and realized within the provincial borders of Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Diyarbakır in the TRC Region, were examined. After the preliminary meeting with the TKDK Coordinatorships, which is within the scope of the field research of the study, a total of 12 rural tourism investors were identified. need main themes and sub-criteria were determined and interpreted. In the second stage of the research, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied in order to determine the order of importance of the main theme and sub-criteria and to guide sustainable rural tourism policies in the TRC Region by re-interviewing the relevant participants. AHP Matrix for Rural Tourism Transformation in the TRC Region was created with the data obtained from the relevant field literature and field studies.