درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Purpose- The aim of this study was to investigate the mental image of local residents of tourism destination villages in Karaj city regarding the economic and social effects of tourism and its effect on tourism development tendency. Design/methodology/approach- This research is based on an applied and descriptive-analytical method. Data related to any of the variables have been collected through questionnaires and interviews. The statistical population of the study is the residents of the villages of tourism destination in Karaj city. Out of this, 365 local residents of the villages were selected according to Cochran formula as the sample population. To analyze the research findings, AMOS and SPSS software were used. Findings- The results of this study showed that the mental image of the local residents of the tourism destination villages in Karaj is positive about the economic and social effects of tourism development. Also, the satisfaction of local residents from economic dimensions of tourism with a factor of 0.77 compared to their social mental image with a factor of 0.70 has a greater impact on the local community's desire for tourism development. Research limitations/implications- The difficulty of crossing the mountainous slopes of Chalous Road, the unwillingness of some respondents in the studied villages for individual and social reasons, the lack of sufficient statistics and information about the province of Alborz due to the newly established and non-differentiated statistics from the Tehran province are among the limitations of the research. Practical implications- Neglecting local communities in tourism industry activities is a major bottleneck in participatory planning in order to achieve sustainable development of tourism. In this regard, planners and custodians of tourism in the studied villages should develop sustainable tourism to meet the needs and desires of local residents, while the development of sustainable tourism will be impossible without the participation of local residents and their loyalty toward tourists. In this way, the maximum satisfaction of the local community is realized as an indispensable necessity for the successful development of tourism. Originality/value- In this research, we tried to provide a comprehensive and systemic approach which is a geographical attitude to evaluate the tendency of local residents of target tourism villages of Karaj County about tourism effects. In addition, the effect of this attitude was examined on local community satisfaction using structural equation modeling.

Purpose- Ineffectiveness and unsustainability of classic approaches to respond to socioeconomic challenges in rural areas is one of the biggest barriers to sustainable development and achieving its goals. Hence, modern tourism as a new strategy has been able to be effective in the evolution of sustainable development in rural areas. Such that today emergence of postmodern tourism has made the tourists be more willing to use cultural attractions and unique experiences in tourism destinations, and the big entertaining places are not attractive to them anymore. On the other hand, rural areas have constantly faced difficulties in attracting tourists because of poverty and economic problems; therefore, creative tourism has been presented as an appropriate approach in developing rural tourism, since it does not need huge investments and uses the existing cultural and natural aspects. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the role of creative tourism in rural sustainable development and ranking the sample villages according creative tourism components. Design/methodology/approach- The present study is an applied study with regard to function and is a descriptive-analytic study with regard to its nature. We used field and library methods based on observation and questionnaire for data collection. Validity of the questionnaire items was confirmed by experts and using Cronbach alpha formula (0.856). The statistic population includes the households of six historic-cultural villages in northwest of Iran; 313 household heads were randomly selected using the Cochran formula. Statistical tests such as one sample t-test, multi-variate linear regression, and Kruskal–Wallis test were used for data analysis. Findings- The results indicated that the mean values are higher than 3 for all the components of creative tourism except risk taking which is 2.99; the components are also significant at 0.01 level indicating desirable conditions of the target villages with regard to creative tourism. Investigation of regression fitness model indicated that 0.83 of the positive effect of tourism on rural sustainable development is due to creativity in tourism. Also, according to beta values, among the five components of creative tourism, participation (0.286) and and risk taking (0.181) were the most and least effective factors in rural sustainable development through tourism, respectively. The results of Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that Kandovan (65.257) was at the first rank and Varkaneh (41.71) was at the sixth rank with regard to creative tourism and the consequent sustainable development.