Evaluation of major determinants of loyalty in rural tourism (case study: villages of rural districts of Goleijan, Tonekabon)

Due to the different practical nature of villages compared to urban areas, they have been the point of attention of urbanites. During primary levels of rural tourism growth tourists were mostly attracted to natural attractions but in their loyalty, factors such as destination image, trust, commitment, motivation, attachment to place, perceived destination quality, and being satisfied about destination's operation, are influential. Village areas of Goleijan rural district in central areas of Tonekabon County that have special rural forms such as seaside, plain, flatland, forest and mountainous villages and also having variation in farms and gardens, pleasant weather, intact sceneries, have been tourists center of attention. Main aim of this current research is analyzing the factors influencing tourist's satisfaction and loyalty. Methodology of the research is descriptive-analytic and is applied in terms of goals. Research's required data is collected using library resources and tourists questionnaires. Statistical population of the study is compromised of the tourists who have visited the rural areas of the case study in the year 1394. Collected data is processed using SPSS software. Results show that satisfaction has the most influence on tourist's loyalty (0.613). Results also show that attachment to place with a Beta of (0.578) is the second most influential factor on tourist's level of loyalty.