RT Journal Article SR Electronic A1 MiĆĄkolci, Simona T1 The direct economic impact of alternative types of the rural tourism JF Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis YR 2014 VO 53 IS 6 SP 101 OP 108 DO 10.11118/actaun200553060101 UL https://acta.mendelu.cz/artkey/acu-200506-0010.php AB Rural tourism has come to occupy a prominent position in the debate about rural restructuring in all OECD countries, partly because of demand changes which favour rural tourism and partly because rural agencies recognise a need to provide economic activities with potential for growth in a rural economy in which traditional providers of rural employment (such as agriculture) have been shedding labour at a rapid rate.Well-designed strategy is essential to its success in impacting on the rural economy. The structures for collaboration and co-operation must be developed and combined with a process of education and training. Co-operative effort must be effective and sustainable. The tourism related businesses should not be isolated from the larger community and its issues.The principal motivation for a community, business or region to serve tourists is generally economic. An individual business is interested primarily in its own revenues and costs, while a community or region is concerned with tourism's overall contribution to the economy, as well as social, fiscal and environmental impacts. A good understanding of tourism's economic impacts is therefore important for the tourism industry, government officials, and the community as a whole.The principal objective of the study, that is reported here, was to determine the potential income of farmers from the provision of agro-tourism services. First, the paper reviews selected results of the visitor spending survey in alternative types of rural tourism of the region Southeast (Czech Republic); second the direct economic benefit of the agro-tourism in this region is estimated, and finally, critical factors reducing the effectiveness of agro-tourism as a rural development instrument are drawn.