TRENDS IN RURAL TOURISM: THE ENGINE FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

Over the past half-century, rural areas have experienced a decline in vitality due to various reasons, primarily caused by emigration and a decline in population. However, in recent years, especially during and after the pandemic period, rural tourism has become extremely attractive to tourists and has become a factor in revitalizing rural areas. Rural tourism, as a selective form of tourism, encompasses numerous resources, spaces, and activities that not only attract tourists but also bring significant quantitative and qualitative changes to rural settlements and the lives of local communities. The positive changes affected by the development of rural tourism are undeniable on different levels - destination level, national level, local community level or rural household level. However, it is crucial that rural tourism, given the sensitivity of rural areas, develops in a planned, careful, and sustainable manner. The aim of this paper is to highlight the trends in the development of rural tourism and the positive and negative aspects of its development. The paper will present good practices in the development of sustainable rural tourism in the Municipality of Irig (Vojvodina, Serbia). Economic benefits for all relevant stakeholders, protection of natural resources and the introduction of new ecological practices, protection, and revitalization of cultural heritage, involvement of local population in the planning and development of rural tourism, with active support from the government and non governmental sectors through education and financing, must be key directions in the sustainable development of this form of tourism.