SWOT ANALYSIS OF HALFETI'S RURAL TOURISM POTENTIAL IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Halfeti district, located in the southeast of Turkey, is a destination area with tourism potential with its natural beauties, ruins reflecting historical, religious and cultural heritage, and endemic plant and animal existence. With the Birecik dam starting to collect water, the flooded rural settlement areas have become interesting and the tourism destination value of Halfeti district has further increased. Halfeti's tourism value continues to increase day by day after it was included in the Cittaslow network in 2013. Local community, who earned income only through animal and plant production in the past, have gone into rural tourism activities with these changes in Halfeti district, and Halfeti has taken a special place among rural tourism destination areas today. In this study, the rural tourism potential of Halfeti district was investigated in the context of rural development. In the study, SWOT analysis was conducted using primary data. As a result of the SWOT analysis, it was determined that the strengths of Halfeti district in terms of rural tourism potential are greater than its weaknesses. In addition, suggestions are offered for using Halfeti's rural tourism potential in ensuring rural development.