The specificity of tourism development in rural areas lies in their peculiarities. Rural the areas are characterized by a rich natural, cultural and traditional heritage, but also by problems of depopulation, abandonment of traditional activities and weakening of economic growth and development. In such circumstances, a sustainable development solution for rural areas is often sought in tourism. Tourism has a very significant role in the modification of rural areas because through its direct and indirect impacts, generates significant effects, such as additional income of the local population, increasing investments and employment, which encourages and strengthens the development of the local economy. The development of tourism is one of the possible ways of revitalizing rural areas and increasing them quality of life in those areas. The trends in tourist demand point to an ever- increasing trend tourists' interest in specific forms of tourism, including rural tourism and all forms of tourism activities in rural areas take a high place. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to presentation of specific characteristics of tourism development in rural areas, i.e. highlighting its advantages and benefits for the local community on the example of the Municipality of Krnjak and the effects that he brings to rural communities. The development of tourism in rural areas should be strategic planned with the simultaneous awareness of its negative effects on the environment and socio-cultural surroundings. When planning and developing tourism in rural areas, it should be put in the foreground the needs and demands of the local community while simultaneously adopting the principles of sustainable development tourism in rural areas. The subject of this paper is to investigate the theoretical assumptions of development of rural tourism, and key assumptions for the development of rural tourism. The aim of the work is to investigate the possibilities of developing rural tourism in undeveloped areas on the example of the Municipality of Krnjak. For the purposes of this work, primary research was conducted among the resident population of Fr views on the possibilities of tourism development in the area of the Municipality of Krnjak.