Assessing the Role of Urban Tourism in Economic-Environmental Development of the City of Babolsar

Nowadays، tourism industry، as one of the premium developing industries، plays an important role in the economy of countries and takes an active and effective part in improving cultural-social and environmental structure of the host country. Considering the increasing importance of tourism in the development of communities، the current research intends to make an investigation into the effect (s) of tourism on economic-environmental development of the city through the lens of the citizens and the officials of the city of Babolsar. The current research is applied، purpose-wise، and is descriptive، correlational، and upon surveying، method-wise. The data has been collected via documents and library sources as well as the researcher-developed questionnaire، observations، and interviews with related organizations and the heads of the households in the city of Babolsar. Upon Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Kendall-b tests، the results show that tourism has significant effects on economy and in addition to employment and income-providing، has resulted in increase in prices and property speculation. Environmentally، tourism has decreased farmlands، changing them into buildings، and increased services، pollution، ecology-destruction، and has made it easier to have access to cities. Thus، via proper planning and efficient utilization of tourists entry، it is possible to improve economy of the city، resulting in improvement in the city’s environment.