Rural tourism development zones: the case of Macedonia

The paper attempts to make an overview on current patterns of rural tourism in Macedonia as well as to recommend future steps for introducing rural tourism development zones. In this respect, the research is based on various analyses made upon available secondary data collected through desk-research on descriptive statistics and stylized facts. The outcomes point out that Macedonia, opposite many tourism-oriented countries, notes very modest results in this area. So, the paper identifies numerous potentials for developing rural tourism zones thus emphasizing the need for undertaking serious measures and activities on central and local level. Moreover, it points to the necessity for identifying effective strategic framework for enhancing rural tourism which might result with existence of around thirty rural tourism development zones, over twenty rural tourist centers and over two-hundred rural tourism settlements in Macedonia.