DETERMINIG THE PROFILE OF TOURISTS AS USERS OF RURAL TOURISM PRODUCT– FOCUS ON A DEVELOPING AREA (VOJVODINA PROVINCE)

Abstract

Rural tourism seems to be an appropriate means of revitalizing abandoned rural areas and ensuring their sustainability in the future through job preservation or job creation. The Vojvodina Province (Northern Serbia) has very good resource potentials in rural tourism, but in order for rural tourist products to become competitive, it is necessary to work on the segmentation of the tourism market or consumer profiling. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the profiles of tourists, motivational factors that most influence the choice of rural tourism. The research was conducted in the traditional rural surroundings, on a sample of 491 respondents. A modified questionnaire was used, in which the basic motives were grouped into six market segments, and based on CFA analysis, in the software, SPSS Amos, version 21.00, the authors confirmed the hypothetical structure of factors, and the causal relationship of manifest variables and latent dimension rural tourism. More precisely, it has been established what the key motives that identify rural tourism in Vojvodina are. The research results showed that rest, or relaxation in nature with learning, are the main motives for visiting rural areas of Vojvodina. By segmenting the tourist users of rural tourism, it was determined that most of those tourists come for relaxation.