Comparative analysis of local residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism on rural areas: A case study of the villages in the basin of the Kolan river in Malayer County

Until now, a large number of studies on tourism in rural regions have concentrated on the recognition of its positive and negative impacts on economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. However, considering the different views held by local people of the impact of tourism, few studies have been carried out to compare the perceptions of stakeholders, especially from the perspective of rural residents. This research aims to do a comparative analysis of the perceptions of local residents about the impacts of tourism on the villages of Kolan river basin in Malayer County. The research method is a mixed procedure. In the qualitative phase, during six sessions, group brainstorming was done by 60 persons participating as local volunteers. They tried to identify the positive and negative impacts of tourism. The findings in this phase were used to design a questionnaire as a measurement tool in the quantitative phase. As many as 350 questionnaires were given to 10% of the population over 15 years of age. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, chi-square, and ANOVA. According to the exploratory factor analysis, the positive impacts were classified into economic, environmental, and social factors. Similarly, the negative impacts were classified into three factors in terms of environmental, social and security, and cultural impacts. The results of the cluster analysis showed three different perspectives. In most cases, there were significant differences between the perceptions of the local residents in terms of positive and negative impacts of tourism. The findings are consistent with the principles of social exchange theory.