Analysis of relationship networks among women involved in tourism and non-tourism practices in order to develop tourism in Hormoz Island

Tourism in Hormoz Island through its plenty tourism capabilities was developed increasingly and women are in the frontline of interaction in the hospitality business. As regards the enactment of general bills which considers the Hormoz Island as part of Qeshm free zone in Islamic Parliament, new conflicts could arise between development, traditional and conventional structures and networks of women in Hormoz Island as the number of tourist arrivals and private sector investors may increase. Accordingly it is essential to study the network of women relationships in Hormoz Island who are vastly involved in tourism practices. This research aimed to detect and analysis the relation between women who are employed in tourism and non- tourism sectors of Hormoz Island by using Network Analysis Approach. The data were gathered by querying women who are employed in tourism sector (including 13 women in cuisine and 10 women in handicrafts sector) and non- tourism sector (including 8 women in sewing sector). Then the data were imported to Excel spreadsheet and the networks based on in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality, eigenvector centrality, and status indices were drew and analyzed by Visone software. The results show that, women who are employed in tourism sector have more interconnected relationships rather than those who are employed in non- tourism sector; whereas tourism or non- tourism employment have no effect on power index of women but their power was affected by their organization and relations to power centers out of Island.