GREEN MARKETING APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and industrialization caused individuals to have a city-centered life. Urbanization trends lead to reductions in welfare and income levels of rural residents. In many territories and countries, rural areas are less developed and have specific situations.

The stress and pressure of urban life have caused people to become more involved in rural areas. One of the essential characteristics of modern society is to focus on sustainable development. Sustainable development is a multidimensional concept that targets the development of rural areas. Rural tourism, one of the major tools for rural development, has the potential for growth in the future.

The key to the development of rural tourism is to create tourism products using natural resources and to present them to tourists, benefiting from the local people who produce cultural and historical values. It leads to the rethinking of the basic principles of marketing regarding increases the environmental issues, need for environmental protection and sustainable development. Green marketing concept was born as a result. Briefly, green marketing is the whole set of activities aimed at meeting human needs or demands, aiming at satisfying these needs and desires in such a way as to create the least harmful effect on nature. In practice, it is based on strategies such as creating and developing environmentally sensitive market segments, creating new environmental standards and launching new environmental initiatives, adopting environmental forms of product labeling and evaluating all market activities based on the latest environmental conditions and standards.

In this study, combining rural tourism with green marketing approaches aiming at the rational use of natural resources, which is one of the tools of rural development is examined.