The Potential of Rural Tourism and the Sustainable Developmentof Rural Areas

Paper describes role of rural tourism for the development of rural areas. It´s an alternative for agricultural entrepreneurship and could be beneficial both for profitability and for revitalization and living social environment. It highlights the importance of rural tourism for the future of mankind and different needs for doing business in this area. Author assumes that meeting customer‘s demands in the current business environment is more and more difficult. It is also very demanding. Prior setting up a rural tourism oriented business, it is advisable to cautiously analyze the general policy of the region. It is necessary to react to changes of consumer behavior, such as increasing demand habits and orientation to goods and services that are not really necessary. The goal of this article is to set procedure of the analysis of the rural tourism potential, and stress out the necessity of exercitation of the effective planning and marke-ting approach as a key aspect in rural tourism entrepreneurship. The main steps of strategic and marketing planning are also described. The article also reveals the relationship of the „Local Agenda 21“ as a fundamental instrument of the territorial development from the view of the sustainable development. The described CATWOE methodology and „Environmental Assessment“ negotiate impacts of all activities for environment. As any business activity, also rural tourism is profit-oriented. Risk analysis must therefore be performed with systematic approach. „Risk Assessment“ and its usage are shown at the SWOT analysis.The analysis of rural tourism and main strategic business rules are based upon information from a large number of literatures and practical experience of the author. She analyzed strategic docu-ments and gathered lot of information.