Rural Tourism Development in IranResearch ObjectivesWith the recent conclusion of the twentieth century, rural development supported and practiced by the World Bank still faces many problems and challenges, because development strategies rural have not been successful in the past. It has failed to address issues such as poverty, employment, health, food security and environmental sustainability. In addition to this, development benefit distribution strategies have also failed and have caused many problems for rural areas (Anderson & Thomson 2003, p.169 -71). The increase in rural migration to large cities and the reduction in income of rural families and rural agriculture have led to a growing demand for alternative sources beyond agricultural activities. As a result, many theorists, planners and implementers began to reconsider the issue in order to seek new methods of analysis and presentation of the problem and solutions to help rural areas develop. One of the new strategies recently considered and even implemented in some countries, with positive results, is the development of tourism in rural areas that have potential for tourism development. Studying the role of tourism in rural development can explore better use of natural resources. and human resources in these areas, as well as possible economic growth, agricultural promotion and artisanal production (Hall & Page 2006, pp. 241-3). It should be recognized that tourism alone cannot meet all the needs of villagers and should be interconnected with other sectors of the economy and planning principles to achieve adequate development outcomes. This particularly concerns rural areas in terms of sustainable development....... middle of paper ......atrick, I, Mitchell, M 2005, Rural Tourism and Sustainable business, Channel View Publications, New York, USA. McDonagh, J& McAreavey, R 2011, Sustainable rural tourism: lessons for rural development, Sociologia ruralis, vol 51, n. 2, pp.175–194. Pourafkari, B 2008, 'A comparative study of cultural tourism development in Iran and Turkey', Master's thesis, Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences, Lula University of Technology, Sweden, viewed 7 April 2011, Ryan, C & Gu , H 2009, “Tourism in China: Destination, Cultures and Communities”, Tourism Management, New York, USA. Tureac, C, E, Turtureanu, A, G & Bordean, I 2008, General considerations on rural tourism, viewed 9 April 2011,