درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The Khasia communities living in the Moulvibazar district, which have a matriarchal family structure, famous for betel leaf farming and unique cultural heritage, has been impacted by tourism. This study explores the impacts of tourism on their cultural practices, economic conditions, and social dynamics from different aspects and identifies long-term strategies for cultural preservation. Fieldwork was conducted in four Khasia villages in Moulvibazar to collect essential data and observe the participants’ reactions. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and Focus group discussions with thematic analysis using Quirkos software. Expert secondary data were used to back up the conclusions. Tourism has provided several economic opportunities like improved infrastructure and new sources of revenue; some villages are planning to use tourism to show and promote their true cultural heritage via eco-tourism and social media platforms. However, there are several challenges, and cultural commodification, environmental pollution, and social conflicts are the main concerns. Deforestation is creating a disturbance in their livelihood as they are highly dependent on nature. Some tourists also demand commercialization which is harming their cultural authenticity. Tourism presents both benefits and threats for the Khasia community. Sustainable tourism practices and community-led policies are important to strike a balance between economic benefits and cultural preservation. Long-term development can be ensured while safeguarding heritage and the environment if the Khasia people are given the power to manage their cultural representation.

Karbala city is destination of millions of pilgrims from all over the world every year. Therefore, this research has assessed strategies for developing religious tourism in Karbala city, with an emphasis on improving the pilgrims' experience and exploiting the economic and social capacities of this city. First, indicators related to religious tourism infrastructure were identified, and then their impact on the pilgrims' experience was analyzed using statistical methods. Data collection tool is a researcher-made questionnaire, which was used to examine its validity from the specialists and experts in quantitative and relative content validity coefficient, and to examine its reliability, was used Cronbach's alpha. The statistical sample includes two groups, 19 people in the qualitative section and 550 people in the quantitative section, selected using convenience sampling. Data analysis includes initial coding, classification, extraction of indicators and variables, descriptive and inferential statistics such as one sample t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation, and linear regression. Results showed residence index with the maximum mean and minimum dispersion indicates the its importance and diversity for pilgrims. The recreational and commercial services index with the lowest mean showed less importance. Correlation results indicate a positive and significant relationship between the attraction index and other indicators at the 0.001 level, which shows that as tourist attractions are strengthened, other services and infrastructure are equally effective in improving the pilgrims' experience. Results of compare means between pilgrims and local residents showed in the catering service and residence indexes, mean of rank pilgrims (253.21 and 254.49) are higher than local residents (239.65 and 234.55) at a significance level of 0.398 and 0.215, respectively. As a result, improving tourism infrastructure, accessibility and improving the quality of recreational and medical services can lead to increased pilgrim satisfaction.

This study investigates the developmental outcomes of Van Life as an emerging form of child-centered tourism in Iran. Van Life, defined as short-term, vehicle-based travel involving family participation and nature immersion, offers educational and emotional benefits for children. Despite its growing global appeal, this model remains largely unexamined in the Iranian context. Using a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive design, the study collected data from 15 families and 25 children aged 6–12 years who had engaged in Van Life-style travel. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and children’s drawings and were analyzed thematically. The findings indicate that Van Life positively contributes to children’s development in four domains: emotional (increased self-confidence and emotional regulation), cognitive (hands-on problem-solving and nature-based learning), social (strengthened family bonds and cultural openness), and environmental (awareness of sustainability and responsible behavior). Nonetheless, key barriers were identified, including inadequate infrastructure, cultural conservatism, and limited parental preparedness to support experiential learning during the travel. The study concludes that Van Life holds potential as a sustainable, inclusive, and educational tourism model for families in Iran. To address these limitations, this study recommends promoting environmental education, expanding support services, and designing policies that recognize the developmental value of child-centered tourism experiences.

Due to technological advances and existence of limitations in modern life, there has been a demand for new ways of tourism. In this regard, the present study aimed to model the factors affecting smart governance for managing cultural heritage tourism destinations. This study was of an interpretive, applied, quantitative, field-library and survey type. The statistical population was all activists, experts, managers and employees of tourism organizations in East Azerbaijan province and according to the results of the GPower software and using the criterion-based purposive method, 166 people were selected as a sample. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was obtained from the qualitative findings section of the study. In addition to the descriptive section, structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and all analyses were performed in SPSS version 23 and SmartPLS version 3.1.1 software at a significance level of 0.05. The research results showed that the research model has a good fit and that the need for development, the need for accountability, smart features, culture, specialized factors and lifestyle has a positive and significant effect, and economic factors, political factors and government factors have a negative and significant effect on the smart governance of cultural tourism destinations in East Azerbaijan province. Managers and officials should think about developing and promoting positive and driving factors and eliminating negative and inhibiting economic, political and governmental problems.