The Attitude of Local Community towards the Perceived Risks of Agri-tourism Development (Case Study: The City of Tonekabon)

Introduction In many regions of Iran, agriculture faces difficulties that are no longer sufficient in meeting the needs of the farmers. Therefore, regarding the current agricultural potentials of some of these regions in establishing and developing agricultural tourism and the subsequent influx of tourists can bring plenty of benefits to the farming community. There are, however, many risks associated with these activities which are categorized into human risks (economic, social-cultural and psychological) and natural-environmental risks which are different for each area and are also susceptible to affect peasants’ views towards tendency for acceptance and propagation of this specific type of tourism. In fact, it’s in the light of the development of agriculture that agricultural tourism emerges. Therefore, if any investments are made on villages of aforementioned areas without identification and management of these risks, there might be several negative consequences. On this basis, the main purpose of the current research is to identify the risks associated with the agriculture sector and risks that are considered as threats for villagers. It can also help to scrutinize the local society’s perception of the so-called risks that are associated with the development of agricultural tourism. The main question here is what the main existing risks towards development of agricultural tourism are.
Case study The target location in this study is located on the banks of Shirood River in the city of Tonekabon. This location houses several natural attractions, farms and arboretums. It also hosts many tourists from different parts of the country. The kind of tourism that is common in this area is based on nature.
Materials and Methods The current work is an applied research which uses a descriptive-analytic method. The required information is also collected through both library and field studies and main apparatus of the research is a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of this questionnaire is approved by a number of experts; moreover, the Cronbach’s alpha method was used for verification of its reliability. The statistical population of this study includes the heads of families of selected villages on the banks of Shirood River in the city of Tonekabon. By using the Cochran’s formula, a sample size that included 193 families was selected. The independent variable of this research is the farmers’ level of support for development of agricultural tourism which is influenced by dependent variables including factors of perceived risks of agricultural tourism including knowledge and awareness, tendency towards development of agricultural tourism, economic risks, social risks, natural risks, production risks and market risks as well as organizational-political risks. In order to analyze the data, SPSS software was used. And in order to collect and analyze the data, the scale of variables and descriptive statistics such as average scores and statistical analysis methods such as one sample T-test, Freedman test and Route analysis were used.
Discussion and Results The findings of this research indicated the high tendency of the respondents for development of agricultural tourism. Another finding of this research demonstrated that from the viewpoint of local society, the social risk is at a suitable status and does not pose any threats for peasants. Additionally, in terms of natural risks, the findings also revealed that the risks were considerably high; it also gave a hint of an unsuitable situation in terms of agricultural productions and markets. And finally, in terms of organizational-political risks, the findings revealed that the performance of management boards of related organizations were relatively insufficient. Nevertheless, according to other findings of the current research and from the viewpoint of the respondents and in terms of the influences of the perceived risks on tendency towards development of agricultural tourism could be respectively prioritized.
Conclusion And finally, even though villagers and peasants have a generally high tendency toward the development of agricultural tourism in this area, the existence of the current risks are generally considered to be serious barriers in realizing the expectations of the farmers. Moreover, as long as there is a lack of an appropriate management, not only do the farmers hold a negative view towards development of agricultural tourism, but also few facilities are provided for this type of tourism. And thus, the growth and development of agricultural tourism will only progress at a slow pace.