Village planning in the context of sustainable rural tourism: The case of Village Dikmen, Çifteler district

This research aims to develop a model that will support the village to be brought into rural tourism by making a village planning within the framework of sustainability in Dikmen Village of Çifteler district of Eskişehir. The purpose of the research and the research questions require the use of qualitative and quantitative methods together. In the research, "concurrent transformative design", one of the mixed research methods combining quantitative and qualitative perspectives, was used as a method. Within the scope of the research, field studies were conducted in the village. Within the scope of field studies, firstly, a questionnaire was applied to 81 local people, then in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 44 local people, 5 people from the local administrations. Finally, in order to address some of the important points that need to be organized in the village in more detail, idea tables were created and these idea tables were filled in by the local people. As a result of the analysis of the data obtained, problems and recommended actions were revealed in three categories: "spatial arrangement and quality of life", "support for tourism development" and "promotion". As a result of the research, the potential attractions and deficiencies of the village were identified the recommended actions to be taken to bring the village into rural tourism were put forward and a model was developed to support the village to be brought into rural tourism with a holistic planning approach by making use of geographical information systems. In the literature, village tourism studies have been conducted in villages where rural tourism already exists. This study, on the other hand, proposes a model for rural tourism development in a village where rural tourism is not developed. The study investigated how to develop rural tourism in a village and a rural tourism planning model was developed in the light of the findings. Therefore, this study is an R&D study. In addition, the research will contribute to the literature on village tourism, the concept of distributed economy in village tourism and holistic tourism planning. The research will also contribute to the academic knowledge of other researchers who will conduct research on this subject and enable the development of new research. Keywords: Sustainability, Tourism Planning, Rural Tourism, Village Tourism, Eskişehir, Village Dikmen.