احمد آفتاب

Purpose - Nowadays due to the variety of hazards and inappropriate location of some villages, the necessity of their displacement and resettlement is sometimes unavoidable. In order to resettle the villages, they should consider a wide range of social, economic, environmental and political issues so that resettled villages can survive. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of resettlement on the quality of life of the earthquake-stricken villages and explain the factors affecting it in the resettled villages of Varzaghan County. Design/methodology/approach - The research methodology is descriptive and analytical and the required data were collected using the questionnaire instrument. The study population was 7975 people living in 11 resettled villages in Varzeghan County. The sample size was 382 people who were randomly selected. The validity of questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its reliability was also obtained 0.921 using Cronbach Formula. Finding- Results indicate that the quality of life of villages in Likert six-point scale was equal to 3.47, and the highest and lowest levels of satisfaction are related to the areas of infrastructure, employment and income. In addition, the results of the factorial analysis were identified in four dimensions for quality of life. In this regard, the four factors of physical, economy, psychology, and housing clearly explain the 90.95% of the variance of quality of life. The results of T, Tukey, and Scheffe tests also showed a significant difference between the resettlement patterns and the quadruple dimensions of quality of life. Practical implications- With respect to the importance of quality of life in the development and welfare of human societies in resettlement projects, it is necessary to considerate the effects and consequences concerning the quality of life in addition to selecting the optimal rural site in order to improve the residents’ wellbeing while identifying the strengths and weaknesses of these projects.

Purpose- The aim of this study was to investigate the role of tourism development in the promotion of social welfare in rural East Azerbaijan province. Design/methodology/approach- The research paper is based on analytical-explanatory technique; it was carried out through a survey. The research population comprises the residents of the tourist villages. Five hundred (500) participants were selected as the sample size based on Cochran formula. Experts confirmed the face validity of the questionnaire. They performed a pilot study on 60 questionnaires within the same region. The applied questionnaire was 0.885 to 0.894 reliable based on the obtained data using Cronbach alpha. Finding- Spearman’s correlation test revealed that all research variables were positively and significantly related to tourism except sense of safety and security as well as improvement of consumption patterns. In addition, results of Mann-Whitney test showed that tourism and social welfare were more associated with tourist villages of East Azerbaijan than that of other non-tourist villages. In addition, the results of regression analysis revealed that 9 variables out of 11 obtained 89% of the variations. Accordingly, the variables of quality of life, occupation, and future expectancy have been more effective. Research limitations/implications- The recommendations in this research paper can be used in different areas of tourism management and development of villages in this region.