Investigating tourism expansion impacts in rural area: Case of Zyarat village in Province of Golestan

1-1- Problem statement and purpose Tourism has the potential to create both positive and negative impacts. For tourism development to be successful it must be planned and managed responsibly. Similarly، communities that use or plan to use tourism as an economic development tool to diversify their economy must develop policies for the sustainable development of the community. One key to sustainable development of tourism in a community is the inclusion of local people and host communities. Without local residents support in the community it is nearly impossible to develop tourism in a sustainable manner. Assessing the perceived impact of tourism development in rural area is one of the main predictors for local support for sustainable tourism development in their community. Therefore، a clear understanding of the attitudes and interests of host communities is a necessary precursor to the planning and management of sustainable tourism. Therefore current research aimed to assess impacts of tourism development in rural area that carried out in Zyarat village in county of Gorgan from Golestan province. The decline of traditional rural industries such as agriculture، livestock، and forestry over the past three decades has required many rural communities to explore alternative means to strengthen their economic base. As a result، rural communities have investigated alternative industries to strengthen and diversify their economies. Tourism has been identified as one of the primary industries with the potential to assist local communities in developing economic diversity. 2-Study area Zyarat village as main destination of tourism is a stair-village between mountains and jungles that located at 7 kilometers south of Gorgan، the center of Golestan province. This small forestry village has permanent resident population 1964 people according to Iranian 2006 national survey. The village and its surrounding forests are well used by national tourists during the peak spring and summer months. Currently development of the tourist industry in the village are motivated by attractions such: twin waterfall، Mud spring geysers، handicraft، local livestock products and sparse settlement pattern. This applied research used quantitative paradigm and carried out based on survey strategy. The statistical population consistent all local people in Zyarat village، which 192 samples selected by Krejcie and Morgan table and multistage random sampling. To collect data، the questionnaire employed as research tool and then interview used as complete data gathering phase. More specifically، each impact domain (economic، social، environmental and physical) was represented by some attributes. Content and face validity was ensured through an extensive literature review and evaluation by tourism experts in province of Golestan and some faculty members who interested in tourism research in university of Golestan. Item related to different impact were prioritized base on coefficient of variation. Factor analysis، independent t-test، one-way ANOVA، Spearman correlation coefficients was used for data analysis. Result and Standard demographic questions were asked of each respondent، including age (16 to 73 years old، with a mean age of 39. 84 and majority 38. 54% are in 30-40 category)، gender (about 80. 21% men and 19. 79% women)، marriage status (21. 35% single and 78. 65% married)، education (46. 35% only possess a high school diploma، 23. 44% had attended some college)، civic membership (71. 4% as members) and job category (farmers; 23. 96%، animal husbandry; 16. 67%، supermarket and other business: 15. 10%، government clerks; 12. 5%، workers; 9. 38%). Results of prioritizing tourism impacts showed most important of economic impacts were «create new business opportunity for local peoples»، «create new market for farm and local product» and «increase cost of living». Social impacts are emerged under items include; «caused overcrowding problems for residents»، «deteriorate traditional culture and local costume» and «increase vandalism and social conflict in community». Regarding environmental impact the result revealed that items such; «change in farm land use to housing and commercial use»، «demolish agricultural land and rural farm» «increase in sewage، waste and rubbish» were prioritized as most important impacts. Items include; «develop in infrastructure (road and communication)»، «increase in house building»، develop in recreational facilities (hotel، motel، restaurant، promenade camps and …) «and» change in pattern of rural house«were related to physical impacts of tourism development in rural areas. Findings of factor analyzing indicated that four factors namely; physical، economical، environmental and social explained 64. 691% of the total variances related to impacts of rural tourism development. Current results revealed that physical and economical impact indicated positive effect of rural tourism development and environment and social impact imply negative effects. Also 56. 380% of total effect related to positive and %43. 620 is associated negative impacts. In this survey، attitude on the tourism development were partly gender based. It appeared that women were generally more concerned than men to the negative impacts of tourism development in the community. In addition this study found that high-educated people aware of tourism negative impacts and they are more likely to be negative to the tourism effects while less-educated people were stronger supporters for tourism development. Following، the current study concludes that those residents (farmers and owners of tourism business) who benefit from tourism perceive on average greater economic advantages than those (clerks and workers) who do not receive any benefits، since employed people who benefit from the tourism industry had more positive opinions toward tourism. 5- Conclusion Although this study is a snapshot of a particular time and location، similar to those prevalent since the early tourism impact studies، it is important because it is representative of community attitudes prior to the development of significant tourism interests. The Zyarat village used in the sample was in its pre-development phase of tourism، and this is why most residents expressed a quite strong support for tourism development، although some concern was expressed. While the results of this study are encouraging for the tourism industry، because of the positive attitudes expressed by the local residents to tourism development، attention should be given to the fact that a segment of residents، some groups expressed concern about the environmental and social impacts of tourism. Therefore، it is suggested that decision makers and planners should take into consideration the views of this segment of the rural population and direct increased efforts toward environmental protection and social welfare in future tourism strategies. Finally this study was subject to several limitations، mainly limited time، small size of study area and low budget، it was possible to understand people grant considerable importance to economic objectives. Future research should be conducted that examines local economic alternatives for the people that will have both a development impact and serve as incentives to empower social culture and conservation of environment. Moreover، the supportive service of the Organization of Tourism and Cultural Heritage should continue to provide information about and demonstrate the potential benefits to be derived by local people from tourism activities.