Practical model for Measuring progress towards Sustainable rural tourism development (SRTD) in rural area of Iran

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Practical model for Measuring progress towards Sustainable rural tourism development (SRTD) in rural area of Iran

The concept of sustainable tourism industry has been discussed over the past decades as one of the most important and most contentious debates of tourism development and as a framework for understanding the socio economic development procedures along with natural resource management and tourism worldwide. This concept has been identified as a delicate balance in the triangular relationship between the host community and the land on the one hand with the guest community on the other hand and with the tourism industry at different local, national and world levels. Complexity and problematic nature of this concept and its implementation method along with methodology to measure progress toward sustainability in tourism has made it challenging for many scientists and researchers; so applying indicators and indices capable of estimating tourism sustainability and enabling sustained tourism development seems to be necessary.

Actually The basis of sustainable tourism development (STD) is the concept of reconciliation, non-defiance, combining requirements of ecology, economics and society. This concept is very topical with regard to tourism and in particular relating to rural and agricultural tourism. However, Sustainability as a notion comprising economic, ecological and social and cultural factors requires when studying sustainability of rural tourism to include the determination of a whole system of parameters. When reviewing the sustainable future development of rural tourism in Iran we have to take into account the interests of all figures on that market, because a prerequisite for sustainable development of rural tourism is the simultaneous consideration on one hand, the interests of local people in a long-term period (improvement of infrastructure, development of agriculture and promotion of the standard of living as a whole) and on the other hand, the interests of tourists (providing traditional rural atmosphere, which involves a number of components).The purpose of this paper is to develop a practical model of Measuring progress towards sustainable rural tourism development (SRTD) in terms of system quality along a time scale, rather than absolute levels of sustainability. It is argued that the assessment of the progress can help determine if the industry does indeed contribute to sustainable development. In measuring progress towards SRTD, the perceptions of stakeholders regarding various aspects are to be examined to identify the extent to which tourism meets the three core elements of meeting the interests of local residents, satisfying the requirements of tourists, and preserving the value of the natural environment. The proposed measurement model presents measures of sustainability of individual tourism indicators, and addresses complex and various aspects such as the political, economic, sociocultural, and environmental impacts of the industry, and the quality of tourist experiences.

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