ماریا نهاوندپور

The tourism industry, as one of the leading developing industries, has a special place in the economies of countries today and with its effects plays an active and effective role in improving the economic, socio-cultural and environmental structure of societies. Astara city, with its special capabilities and tourism opportunities, has a special place in tourism in Gilan province. The nature of this applied research is descriptive-analytical method and its purpose is developmental. The statistical population of this study is all residents of Astara city and using Cochran's formula and Jesse Morgan's table, 383 people are considered as the sample size. This research was conducted by survey method and the validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.98. The results indicate that the development of tourism has had a significant effect on the development of Astara city. The results of the Chi-square test show that tourism has played a significant role in increasing employment and job opportunities, increasing the income of the local community from retailing goods and renting villas and housing, improving local infrastructure, reducing migration and increasing participation in collective work. Finally, according to the research results, practical suggestions are presented.