Analysis of the environmental impacts of second home tourism from the perspective of the host community and visitors: Case Study: Villages of Dohear Region, Tonekabon Township

One of the critical criteria in sustainable tourism development approach is support and Attitude of inhabitants. Local resident support for tourism development is critical because successful operation and sustainability depend heavily on their good will. Therefore planning in respect to sustainable tourism development should be on the basis of the goals and priorities of local residents. The objective of this research is to determine factors affecting attitudes of second home tourism development and environmental impacts in rural areas of Dohezar County., The case study target is located in Tonekaboon Township in Mazandaran province Second home tourism development has been considered as the independent variable and environmental impacts have been considered as dependent variables. From 16 villages of Do Hezar Rural District (50%) 8 villages have been studied due to the extensive research problems. The study population includes households of Do Hezar Rural District equal to 486 households among which 150 householders namely 30% of the total population were selected as sample using Cochran formula. The other population includes the owners of second homes that were selected as 100 subjects as the statistical population from 640 people. The collected data are as objective and subjective indicators. In this study, the number of second homes, the amount of waste generated in the tourism and non-tourism seasons are as objective indicator and guest and host community attitudes in relation to environmental factors are as subjective indicators in this study. In this regard, based on the initial field study and study goal and review of the intellectual foundations of variables were assessed in terms of questionnaires of Rural residents and second home owners. Reliability was calculated as 0.743 using Cronbach's alpha. In order to analyze and infer, depending on the type of data, scale of variables and intended objectives the descriptive-statistical methods such as mean, statistical analysis methods such as regression and generalized views of the entire population of the one-sample t-test and to understand the gap between two communities in relation to environmental variables t-test was used. Studies show that a total of 640 second homes are used currently in the area and by including the allocation of 121 square meters to each house and the allocation of 640 square meters recreational space for each residential unit, approximately 50 acres of the total land have changed the use due to this type of tourism development. Results indicate that this type of tourism has developed in Do Hezar area and the study population has acknowledged the negative environmental effects of second homes tourism. But in relation to the environmental effects of this type of tourism there are significant differences between local residents and second home owners. Other findings indicate that from the perspective of both groups The most important both environmental outcome of tourism development in the villages of Do Hezar rural district is related to the changes of land use although there are significant differences between the two approaches. The least difference in the viewpoints of two groups is related to the environmental pollution and apparent landscape and the mean difference is 0/3 in two groups.area and the study population has acknowledged the negative environmental effects of second homes tourism. But in relation to the environmental effects of this type of tourism there are significant differences between local residents and second home owners. Other findings indicate that from the perspective of both groups The most important both environmental outcome of tourism development in the villages of Do Hezar rural district is related to the changes of land use although there are significant differences between the two approaches. The least difference in the viewpoints of two groups is related to the environmental pollution and apparent landscape and the mean difference is 0/3 in two groups.area and the study population has acknowledged the negative environmental effects of second homes tourism. But in relation to the environmental effects of this type of tourism there are significant differences between local residents and second home owners. Other findings indicate that from the perspective of both groups The most important both environmental outcome of tourism development in the villages of Do Hezar rural district is related to the changes of land use although there are significant differences between the two approaches. The least difference in the viewpoints of two groups is related to the environmental pollution and apparent landscape and the mean difference is 0/3 in two groups. The results show that tourism development has a high level of development in the region so that in total, more than 53% of rural homes of the study area are second homes. The mean of distance in time and space for second homes and main homes in the study area is equal to 210 kilometers and the wasted time to reach second homes is equal to 230 minutes. In most cases, from the viewpoint of the guest community however, this type of tourism development has resulted in negative consequences, but this is a natural consequence and on the contrary from the viewpoint of host community tourism development in second homes of Do Hezar rural district has left strong negative effects So that the study of total means confirms this status in relation to most indicators. The key point in this study is that both communities analyze the conditions for their benefits but in general the field study of the researcher in the study area indicates that although Second home tourism development in recent years has created jobs and increased local incomes in the study area but vast changes in lands resulted in water shortage especially in hot seasons and holidays, and reduced agricultural productivity and soil erosion.