A Development for Sustainable Business Model of Ecolodges

Considering the increasing development of ecolodges in Iran and also their role in the development of sustainable tourism, it seems that a comprehensive and successful business model for this socio-economic institution has not yet been introduced. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the sustainability of ecolodges and propose a sustainable business model based on the knowledge of experts and managers of these businesses. The research method of this paper is qualitative and thematic analysis has been used with deductive approach and descriptive-inferential method. The required data has been provided through the analysis of semi-structured experts interviews. The research community has been the managers of successful ecolodges and knowledgeable university professors and experts in the field of entrepreneurship and tourism in the country. Purposeful judgmental sampling method was used to select the research sample and the interviews were continued until theoretical saturation. The research tools were semi-structured in-depth interviews as well as the results based on the themes obtained from the content analysis of scientific texts. The findings show that according to the proposed sustainable business model, ecolodges need to be integrated and important for all three dimensions of economy, community and environment in order to have long-term sustainability and survival. The results of this study show that the sustainability of new businesses and ecolodges depends on adopting a diverse income portfolio and trying to achieve benefits in three dimensions: economic, socio-cultural, environmental, in other words, attention to the benefits, people and land.