The Identification of the Main Factors of the Development of Rural Tourism on Stara Planina Mountain

Stara Planina (Old Mountain) has excellent predispositions to the development of rural tourism, which are satisfied by but few mountains in our country. Its biological, geological and cultural heritages are very rich. However, this area was not an attractive tourist destination due to a large migration of the local population. The natural beauties of Stara Planina, in combination with the culture, tradition, gastronomic specialties and music of Eastern Serbia, can become a recognizable tourist brand that will improve the image of the region and the state itself, because of which Stara Planina strong potential for rural tourism development is being discovered. This paper is aimed at identifying the main factors influencing changes in tourism development and the selection of appropriate strategies , which in turn will influence identification and assessment during the planning of the strategic directions of rural tourism development. The factor analysis is the method that allows the identification of the main factors affecting changes in tourism development and one of the most popular multivariate techniques aimed at identifying and understanding the basic idea, i.e. the common characteristics of several variables and a reduction in the number of variables in the analysis.