THE ECONOMIC AND TOURISM DIMENSION OF THE LEATHER AND FOOTWEAR SECTOR IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, DJELFA AS A MODEL

The leather sector is one of the most profitable agricultural industries globally and has multiple social, economic and tourism dimensions, as it is linked to the transmission of leather industry traditions through generations in a vari ety of ways and multiple uses. This paper aims to trace the development of the leather and footwear sector and the transformations that this sector went through during the period from 1974 to 2021. We rely on studying quantitative analysis using various statistical programs such as PCA, SPSS, Excel and EViews and analyzing and deducing their numbers and curves. The results concluded that during the first 25 years of the period studied, which coincided with the adoption of the socialist economy, t he leather and footwear sector accounted for 52.1% of the total economic sectors. In the next 23 years of the study period, after Algeria's transition to a market economy, this percentage rose to 57.9%. These findings reflect the pivotal role played by th e leather and footwear sector in the Algerian economy since the beginning of the study, and highlight how the transition to a market economy contributes to the growth of this sector, reflecting its ability to adapt to economic changes and take advantage of the opportunities offered by economic openness.