Prioritize Tourism Target Villages in Mazandaran Province

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Z. Nematollahi ¹
• S.M. Mojaverian ²
• M. Hosseinzadeh ³

¹ Islamic Azad University, Arsanjan

² Sari University of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

³ Islamic Azad University, Zabol

https://doi.org/10.22067/jead2.v30i3.56990

Abstract

Introduction: Attention to rural development than urban development in the third world not because of the majority of the population in rural areas, but also because it is the final solution to the problem of urban unemployment and decreasing the population density metropolis, development and improvement of the rural environment. Rural tourism potentially can be considered as fundamental approaches in sustainable rural development. This study, using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is trying to prioritize the factors that affecting rural tourism in Mazandaran province whit scientific and practical point of view, then the best rural areas of the province identify and rank according to experts.
Materials and Methods: The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), introduced by Thomas Saaty (1980), is an effective tool for dealing with complex decision making and may aid the decision maker to set priorities and make the best decision. By reducing complex decisions to a series of pairwise comparisons, and then synthesizing the results, the AHP helps to capture both subjective and objective aspects of a decision. In addition, the AHP incorporates a useful technique for checking the consistency of the decision maker’s evaluations, thus reducing the bias in the decision-making process. The AHP can be implemented in three simple consecutive steps: 1) Computing the vector of criteria weights. 2) Computing the matrix of option scores. 3) Ranking the options.
Results and Discussion: The results and findings of this study showed that criteria related to infrastructure have the highest priority in terms of tourists and then cultural and social attractions, standards of facilities and tourist services and religious, historical and natural attractions is ranked. Incompatibility coefficient obtains less than 0.1, which indicates consistency in judgments. The results of prioritizing the following criteria shown; According to the provincial rural tourism security was the highest priority, weighing 0.077. The sanitary facilities of the path to the village, cleaning, environment and facilities, easy access road, holding traditional ceremonies and Accommodation in rural homes are ranked by the weight of 0.075, 0.066, 0.063, 0.063 and 0.062 in the second to sixth. The least important in rural tourism was the density of tourists and historical sites, by weight 0.022 and 0.037 respectively.
Then, to rank the target villages of rural tourism in the province, villages divided in the three villages, according to experts of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, including East villages, Galoogah, Behshahr, Nekah, Miandorood and Sari, central villages, including Savadkuh, Ghaemshahr, Jouibar, Babol, Babolsar, Fereydunkenar, Mahmudabad, Amol and Nour and villages in the West, including, Ramsar, Tonekabon, Abasabad, Chalus and Noshahr. Then, priorities that the region was carried out by rural tourism are used to compare and rank the three villages. For this purpose, the opinions of 11 experts and scholars of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism has been used. Thus, options (the target villages) have been compared and ranked according to expert opinions to that rural tourism prioritizes. Finally, the final weight and options priority have been made based on expert opinion and according to the priorities set by tourists. Based on expert opinion and according to the priorities set by the tourists, the highest priority to tourism was in west of the province and villages in Central and eastern provinces are the next priorities respectively.
Conclusion: Rural tourism potentially can be considered as fundamental approaches in sustainable rural development. This study, using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is trying to prioritize the factors that affecting rural tourism in Mazandaran province. The results and findings of this study showed that criteria related to infrastructure have the highest priority in terms of tourists and then cultural and social attractions, standards of facilities and tourist services and religious, historical and natural attractions ranked. Based on expert opinion and according to the priorities set by the tourists, the highest priority to tourism was in west of the province and villages in Central and Eastern provinces respectively are the next priorities. Thus, according to the results, equipping tourist attractions to levels of health services, providing facilities and financial resources to equip and organize existing settlements is suggested.

Keywords

• Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
• Mazandaran
• Rural Development
• Rural tourism

20.1001.1.20084722.1395.30.3.6.5

References

1- Abdolmanafi T., and Azkia M. 2011. Factors affecting tourism in the rural area of Kelardasht, Journal of Agricultural Extension and Education, 4 (1): 99- 113. (in Persian)

2- Annual Report of the World Tourism Organization. 2011.

3- Barkauskas V., Barkauskiene K., and Jasinskas E. 2015. Analysis of macro environmental factors influencing the development of rural tourism: Lithuanian case. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 213:167 – 172.

4- Baum T., and Szivas E. 2008. HRD in tourism: a role for government? Journal of Tourism Management, 29(4): 783 - 794.

5- Eraqi M. 2007. IEgypt as a macro-tourist destination: tourism services quality and positioning. Int. J. Services and Operations Management, 3(3): 279-315. (in Persian)

6- Esfahani N., Goudarzi M., Asadi H., Sajadi N., and Esmith S. 2009. Factors affecting the development of inside sport tourism in Iran, Sport Management Quarterly Journal, 1: 159- 175. (in Persian)

7- Ghafouri F., Honarvar A., and Nematpoor R. 2014. An Investigation of Influential Factors on Development of Water Sport’s Tourism in Coastal Cities of Mazandaran, Journal of sport Management and development, 2 (3): 19-30. (in Persian)

8- Ghodsi pour H. 2006. Discussions on multi-criteria decision-making (AHP), Amirkabir University, Tehran. (in Persian)

9- Hall J., OMahony B., and Vieceli J. 2010. An empirical model of attendance factors at major sporting events, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(2): 328-334

10- Honarvar A., and Ghafouri F. 2009. Water sports in the margins of the southern provinces of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, Strategies for development of water sports tourism, heritage and tourism Quarterly, 1 (1): 9- 27. (in Persian)

11- Jalilvand H., Karami O., Shahnazari A., and Shabani M. 2012. Recreational evaluation using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) Case: Forest Park of Zare, Mazandaran, Geography and Development, 29: 107- 118. (in Persian)

12- Jamshidi Saleh Z., and Talebi M. 2013. Assess factors influencing the development of rural tourism (Case Study: OShian village of Roudsar County). First National Conference on Tourism, Geography and the Sustainable Environment. Hamadan. (in Persian)

13- Karami Dehkordi M., Mirakzadeh A.A., and Ghiyasvand Ghiyasi F. 2012. Analysis the effective factors on improvement of rural tourism in viewpoint of villagers of Charmahal-va-Bakhtiyari province, Geography and environmental planning, 23, 45(1): 99- 112. (in Persian)

14- Khatounabadi S.A., and Rastghalam M. 2011, Assessment of the four elements rural tourism, using SWOT, case study: Tourism target villages Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development, 25(3): 330- 338. (in Persian)

15- Kim K., Bae S., and String D. 2007. The service scape in Golf courses: The effects of physical environment on the consumer internal response and behavior outcome, Sport Marketing Quarterly, 40.

16- Košić K., Demirović D., Pejanović R., Lazić L., and Stamenković I. 2015. Key principles of rural tourism households development strategy - case study of Vojvodina. Economics of Agriculture: 975-988.

17- Kumari S., Behera M,D., and Tewari H,R. 2010. Identification of potential ecotourism sites in West District, Sikkim using geospatial tools. Tropical Ecology, 51.

18- Kurttila M., Pesonen M., Kangas J., and Kajanis M. 2000. Utilizing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in SWOT analysis- a hybrid method and its application to a forest certification case, Forest policy and Economics, 1:41-52

19- Latifi S., Naderi Mahdei K., and Zoleikhaei Sayar L. 2013, Obstacles affecting the development of tourism activities in the rural areas of Hamadan (emphasis on tourism target villages), Journal of Regional Planning, 3 (9): 77- 87. (in Persian)

20- Lee J. 1999. Tourism development in the Third World, Translated by: A. roknaddin eftekhari and M.salehi amin, bazargani Publications company.

21- Liu A. 2006. Tourism in rural areas: Kedah, Malaysia, Tourism Management, 27(5): 878-889.

22- Masoumzadeh, S.M., Torabzadeh, A. 2004, ranking the nation's industrial production, Quarterly Journal of Commerce, 3: 67- 81. (in Persian)

23- Mirzaei H., and Jalili S. 2011. Impact of tourism on economic growth (Compare Iran and Selected Countries). Journal of Economic Sciences. Forth year. Number 15: 1-24. (in Persian).

24- Mitchell M., and Hall D. 2005. Rural tourism as sustainable business: key themes and issues. In D. Hall, I. Kirkpatrick, & M. Mitchell (Eds.), rural tourism and sustainable business Cleve don, UK: Channel View Publications: 3-14.

25- Movahhed A., and Kahzadi S. 2010. Analysis of factors affecting of tourism development in Kurdistan Province using SWOT, Urban Research and Planning, 1(2): 85- 102. (in Persian)

26- Movahhed A., Amanatpour S., and Naderi K. 2011. Urban tourism marketing based on brand model with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) case study of Kermanshah, Specialized Journal of Spatial Planning, 1(3): 17- 36. (in Persian)

27- Muresan I. C., Oroian C.F., Harun R., Arion F.H., Porutiu A., Chiciudean G.O., Todea A., and Lile R. 2016. Local Residents’ Attitude toward Sustainable Rural Tourism Development. Sustainability: 1-14.

28- Najarzadeh M., and Nematollahi M. 2016. Investigate the factors affecting development of rural tourism in line with the stability and development of local communities in the sample areas of tourist. Journal of geography. Fourteenth year. Number 49: 225-248. (in Persian)

29- Nemat Gorgani Kh., Saeb K., Arjmandi R., Khorasani N.A., and Mirkarimi S.A. 2011. Ecotourism management strategy in the tourism region of Ramsar with AHP, Tourism and Sustainable Development Conference, Islamic Azad University of Hamedan. (in Persian)

30- Nemati N. 2005. Strategies for the development of tourism in Iran, Articles Collection of Iran economic potentials with emphasis on tourist situation of Iran in the context of globalization, Azad University of Firoozkooh Branch, 107-150. (in Persian)

31- Nobakht F. 2008. The role of contributing to the development of sport tourism in Ardabil Province, The first Conference of Sport Management, North University of Amol. (in Persian)

32- Rajab zadeh A., Khorshidi Gh., and Gholi pour A. 2006, study and analyzes the role of money and capital market in cost of capital of the company (comparative analysis and industry sector in Iran), Journal of Economic Research, 1(6): 13- 32. (in Persian)

33- Rezaei R.A., Hosseini S.M., Ranjbaran P., and Safa L. 2011. Negative effects of tourism in the village of Abyaneh, Isfahan Province Using factor analysis, Journal of tourism space, 1 (1): 4- 27. (in Persian)

34- Saaty T.L. 1980. The analytic hierarchy process. McGraw-Hill, New York.

35- Saaty T.L. 1996. Decision making with dependence and feedback: the analytic network process, RWS Publications, Pittsburg.

36- Saaty T.L. 2005. Theory and applications of the analytic network process: decision making with benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks. RWS Publications, USA

37- Sekliuckiene J., and Langviniene N. 2009. Service perspectives in healtiness and sport tourismin Lithuania: case study spa, Journal Economics & Management, 14: 505- 512.

38- Shahnoushi Frooshani N. 2007. Potential capacity of provincial revenues and solutions to improve its estimates, Management and Planning Organization of North Khorasan Province. (in Persian)

39- Sharpley R. 2002. Rural tourism and the challenge of tourism diversification: the case of Cyprus, Tourism Management, 23(3): 233-244.

40- Shiravani Z. 2009. Comparative evaluation of recreational forests of Neka Zalemrood with AHP and Gulz- Demirl and Makhdoum, M.Sc thesis of Mazandaran University. (in Persian)

41- Snieška V., Barkauskiene K., and Barkauskas V. 2014. The impact of economic factors on the development of rural tourism: Lithuanian case. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156: 280 – 285.

42- Streimikiene D., and Bilan Y. 2015. Review of Rural Tourism Development Theories. Transformations in Business & Economics. Vol 14. No 2 (35): 21-34.

43- Su B. 2011. Rural tourism in China, Tourism Management, In Press, Corrected Proof.

44- Sugiarti R., Ernawati D., and Birtles A. 2000. The potential for developing ecologically sustainable rural tourism in Surakarta, Indonesia: a case study. ASEAN Journal on Hospitality and Tourism, 2:78-90.

45- Taghdisi A., Varesi H.R., Ahmadian M., and Asgari H. 2015, Identify and analyze the factors affecting the development of tourism in rural areas (Case Study: Rural areas in Jiroft), Journal of Research and Rural Planning, 4 (1): 1-14. (in Persian)

46- UNWTO Annual Report. 2014.

47- World Tourism Organization. 2011. National and regional tourism planning: case studies (Asia and Iran). London.

48- Yazdanbakhsh S. 2011. Identify factors affecting the food and beverage production capacity and provide appropriate strategies to improve the situation of the industry, Master's Thesis, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, School of Agriculture. Department of Agricultural Economics. (in Persian).

49- Zangi Abadi A., Mohammadi J., and Zirak Bash D. 2006. Domestic tourism Analysis of Esfahan city. Journal of Geography and Development. Forth year. Successive Number 8: 131-156. (in Persian)