The survey of social consequences due to presence of second home tourism on rural settlements of Binalud County

With structural changes occurring in the field of tourism especially the prevalence of tourism across the country, in particular in the rural areas surrounding major cities, the construction of second homes or vacation homes with the aim of spending leisure time have gained popularity in villages. The study area has an exceptional natural and ecological location and given its proximity to the metropolis of Mashhad, it receives a host of second home tourists in rural environments. This paper attempts to examine social impacts of tourism derived from the presence of second homes in rural settlements of Binalud city. In this study, the research method is practical in terms of its objective and descriptive – analytical and correlational in terms of methodology. The statistical population of this study consisted of 14 villages with more than 50 households. A large part of data was collected from field studies that included 255 sample households and 238 second home tourist using Cochran sampling method. The results indicated that the spread of this trend in the studied villages could lead to negative effects like the conflict and dichotomy between two communities, the imitation of the local people from the tourists, social disorders and so on or produce positive effects such as positive cultural effects of the residents of the second homes on the local people, increased trust of the local people, and their sense of social security from a social perspective. The results of t-test and Levene test showed a significant difference between rural people and second home tourists in the area with the second home tourism explaining 16.9 % of social variations in the lives of the local people. Given the impacts of this phenomenon on rural areas, further researches are needed to set rules and regulations specifying the duties of the rural municipality administrators with the aim of clarifying the responsibilities of the relevant authorities in relation to the issues of second homes as well as the employing qualitative methods to gain deeper insight about this issue.