امین دهقانی

Purpose- Owramanat County in Kermanshah province with 14 tourism regions, is one of the best tourist destinations of Kermanshah province, in which the tourism activists have faced challenges during the period of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate and analyze the resilience of rural tourism and identify the key drivers affecting it in the face of Covid-19 pandemic in Owramanat County. Design/methodology/approach- the present applied, quantitative study has been conducted with a combined approach (combination of descriptive-analytical and exploratory methods). The questionnaire method was used for data collection and its validity and reliability have been confirmed by observing scientific principles. In order to achieve the purposes of the study, the opinions of 150 people from the local community active in the field of tourism were used to evaluate the resilience, and the opinions of 30 experts were used to identify the primary factors affecting the resilience and also the views of 25 experts were taken into consideration in order to identify the key drivers affecting the resilience of rural tourism. The SPSS and MICMAC software were used to analyze the collected data. Findings- The research findings showed that, the average of four variables including local government budget, environmental knowledge, community welfare, and social support system as the main components of the resilience of rural tourism were 1.757, 2.358, 1.808, and 2.295 respectively and have been significantly lower than the base average. The overall assessment results showed that the calculated average with a value of 2.014 has been significantly lower than the medium level. The results also showed that, among 17 factors affecting the resilience of tourism, 5 factors of government financial support, financial capital, sanitary equipment, infrastructural facilities and disease control are the most effective key drivers on resilience. Originality/ value- Evaluation and analysis of the resilience of rural tourism in the face of Covid-19 pandemic with an approach of presenting the key indicators and variables in this field and also identification of key drivers affecting the resilience of rural tourism have received less attention from researchers and this proves the originality of the present study.

Purpose- Rural elites, as the most important human capitals of rural communities, are a distinct and progressive stratum in various dimensions of development, and their persistence in villages can be effective in accelerating the process of rural development. Nonetheless, studies show that due to various reasons, elites are less persistent in villages and often migrate to cities. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze the causes of elites' migration and how to attract the elites’ participation in the process of rural development in Kurdistan province.Design/Method/Approach- This study was conducted in the framework of interpretative-constructive paradigm and the research method is thematic analysis. In-depth individual semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data.Findings- The results showed two overarching themes namely rural repulsion (including six organizing themes: family and social determinism, weak infrastructure, geographical isolation, environmental challenges, weak economic conditions and weak local and regional management) and urban attraction (including four organizing themes: personal improvement, economic opportunities, social opportunities, and the use of infrastructures and facilities) are the most important causes of rural elites’ migration. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the elites’ participation in rural development could be possible through three overarching themes namely empowering villagers (including four organizing themes: capacity assessment, skill training, strengthening vitality, raising the level of villagers' demands), developing employment and entrepreneurship (including two organizing themes: promoting innovation and economic investment) and efficient rural management (including two organizing themes: managing social challenges and occupying managerial positions).Originality/value- The rural elites’ migration is accompanied by many negative consequences for rural communities. Nevertheless, there is a gap in studies regarding its causes and especially how to attract their participation in the process of rural development. The present study can be a basis for future researches in this field.