حمدالله سجاسی قیداری

Tourist destinations are selected by tourists based on various factors. One of the most important factors is tourist destination security. The study aims to investigate the role of security in the development of rural tourism. The methodology is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population includes 194 tourists from eight villages of Torqabeh and Shandiz County, which selected through the Cochran formula. A survey containing Likert- type scales were used for data collection. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured through Cronbach Alpha, which is acceptable. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and Pearson Correlation test, One Sample T-test and Linear Regression, and VIKOR model. The results indicate that the security variable has a strong direct relationship with the tourism development variable (Coefficient = 0.713). In other words, security positively influences rural tourism development. In addition, the results of VIKOR model reveals that there is a different level of security for tourists in 8 tourist villages of the region; Jaghargh, Kang, and Abardeh villages are in good condition, but Noqondar, Anbaran, and Zoshk villages are at lower level in terms of tourism security and Zoshk village is at the lowest level in terms of tourism security that for the development of tourism in these villages should be considered by the authorities. 

Purpose- The present study aims at examining the adaptability of physical features to feeling of security among the residents of the rural area of Toos. The achievements are supposed to be used in quality improvement of rural guidance plans in line with increasing security potentials of rural areas. Design/methodology/approach- The methodology of this study is correlative, and data collection was performed through library and field studies. The extracted physical indices were obtained from the studies and rural guidance maps, while feeling of security index was obtained through 386 researcher-made questionnaires filled by the residents of 13 villages in the countryside of Mashhad in Toos rural area. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed through an expert board and their reliability in the security feeling variable was confirmed by Cronbach alpha 0.8. SPSS software was used for data analysis. Finding- The findings of the study indicated a significant negative correlation between many of the form and morphology indices of feeling of security. The correlation between the size of the village and feeling of security is significant and equals to -0.804. Moreover, a significant inverse correlation was found between population density and feeling of security which was equal to 0.592. Among the functional status indices, we can refer to an inverse moderate correlation between the distribution of services and the scale of land uses. Accessibility index indicates a strong inverse relationship of impenetrability (with correlation coefficient of 0.670) and the design of dead-end and narrow streets with feeling of security. Research limitations/implications- The limitation of this study includes the bureaucracy of the administrative network, lack of official data and the time-consuming data collection. Practical implications- Generally, the confirmation of the strong relationship among most of the variables indicates that it is required to develop principles of secured places and to give more consideration to the physical security in rural guidance plans, which are the most important related documents in the country. Originality/value- The relationship between them has been ignored in rural areas in spite of the extended volume of rural guidance plans based on their physical context, as well as insecurity of the rural areas at the urban fringe.