• Journal of recreation and landscape
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2012

As the interest in rural tourism has been increasing since the late 1990s, the research associated with rural tourism has increased, including research on the classification of rural tourism resources. The research classifying these resources has proved useful to many other studies. Although such studies have been conducted for a long time, they have expressed only experts' perspectives and been supported by statistics, without reflecting on users' opinions. Given this background, this study aims to classify rural tourism resources by focusing on the rural activities for tourists who use those tourism resources. To achieve this, each study participant proceeded to collect tourism resources by using a rural amenity resources database, and a card sorting test was conducted. Thirty-two people who had previously gone sightseeing in the rural areas were chosen as participants in the card sorting test. After the card sorting test was complete, the results were reviewed by experts. These results yielded six categories: doing nature activities, eating and cooking local dishes, putting up (overnight stays), going sightseeing/appreciating the landscape, enjoying leisure activities, and doing artistic activities. In the doing nature activities category, there were four subcategories: experiencing local resources, experiencing nature, experiencing tradition, and harvesting. This study was conducted to improve the satisfaction and understanding of the tourists who visit rural areas. Thus, the classification of rural tourism resources developed by this study will be widely used to establish the framework or contents of websites, applications, and so on, for promoting rural tourism resources and local resources.