Tourism as a Factor of Rural Development

- Tourism as a factor of rural development Tourism is one of the most common forms of the regional development. The same is in the case of rural areas, which had undergone a significant change (social, economical, environmental) in the last decades. Due to the waning influence of agriculture in the rural economy, the need for diversification is growing. In this context, tourism is one of the most mentioned possibilities in the academic and development publications. Its development is one of the priority axes in all Regional operation programs. Given the apparent simplicity of its development and use, is often applied across the board, irrespective of the actual conditions. The aim of this work is to analyze the economic benefits of tourism to rural communities and evaluate projects aiming to promote tourism, which have been implemented in municipalities with 3,000 inhabitants in 2007 - 2013. The first part focuses on the theoretical framing of the issue of rural transformation and describing tourism as one of the possibilities of the development. Next follows the analyze of its economic impact in the villages according to the intensity of entrepreneurial activity and employment rate in tourism. The last part is devoted to the typology and cost-effectiveness of projects mentioned above. Keywords:..