The Importance and Effectiveness of Institutions Affecting on the Development ofRural Tourism (Application of Network Analysis Method)

Sustainable development researchers believe in the irreplaceable role of institutions in the effectiveness of the development process. The importance and effectiveness of institutions is such that in the new approaches of sustainable development, it is considered as one of the four basic dimensions of sustainable development, and it is placed next to the economic, social and environmental dimensions. The present study examines the importance and effectiveness of institutions affecting the development of rural tourism using the application of network analysis. The present research method is descriptive-analytical. The main research tool is the questionnaire. The statistical population of this study is the households of the villages in four tourist target villages in Torqabeh district, Binalood county in Khorasan Razavi province. Necessary data were collected from 200 rural households in Torqabeh district. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the research tool (questionnaire) and KMO coefficient was used for the validity of the questionnaire. The results of the network analysis showed that the six effective institutions in the development of rural tourism are: the council, the villager, the private sector, the organization of cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism, the district administration, NGOs and other government departments. Also, the results of the research showed that from the point of view of the villagers, the importance and effectiveness of local institutions such as the council, the villager and specialized institutions such as the private sector and the organization of cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism in the development of tourism is more than other institutions involved in the development of rural tourism. Also, the willingness of villagers to participate with local and specialized institutions is more than with government institutions.