Community participation in agricultural tourism planning (Case study: Rural areas of central district, Tonekabon county)

Resource constraints in the agricultural sector and the change of rural people’s attitudes towards the activities in this sector، has resulted declining agriculture in some areas that have tourism potential. Experience of developed countries shows that community participation in rural development Agriculture Tourism is one of appropriate solutions. The aim of this study is to investigate the participation of local community in agriculture tourism planning in rural areas. The survey research method was descriptive and analytical and data is collected via survey. In according to the type of data، descriptive statistics such as mean frequency analysis methods such as test T، Friedman and correlation analysis was used. Rural areas of Tonekabon have a high potential for rural tourism. Therefore attract a lot of tourists. The area is suitable for agriculture tourism development. Research findings show that there is a significant positive relationship between job and community willingness to participate in the development of agriculture tourism. T-test results also confirm the existence of a partnership between the residents of the planning and operational capabilities to the development of agriculture tourism.