Assessment of Agro-Tourism Potential of Gümüşhane Province

Abstract

The agro-tourism, which is one of the alternative tourism types and increasingly becoming significant today, has developed by combination of agriculture and tourism. Agro-tourism is a tourism activity in which individuals preferring to move away from intense urban life usually accommodate in farm type houses and consume organic products in touch with nature. This type of tourism is particularly common in developed countries and has a lot of contributions in economical, sociological and biological aspects. In Turkey, agro-tourism is particularly more active in Aegean and Mediterranean Regions. Gümüşhane is a region which stays between Eastern Anatolian and black Sea Regions, experiences the climates of both regions and has a 113 thousand ha arable land. On the other hand, it is considered that Gümüşhane province should be assessed in terms of agro-tourism as it already has a tourism potential both with its natural beauties and cultural heritage. In this regard, agro-tourism potential of the province was assessed in the study and SWOT analysis was made in terms of agro-tourism, and finally; suggestions were offered under the development of agro-tourism potential of the province. For that purpose, secondary sources were used to collect data.