The Assessment of Social Effects of Folkloric Music Tourism on Local Communities from Experts’ Perspective: The Case Study of Aghqala City in Golestan Province

Music tourism accounts for one of the most attractive forms of tourism. In this line, local music plays a crucial role in tourists’ attraction. This is a significantly visible observation in the city of Aghqala located in Golestan province as it holds a long history in local music of Turkmen. The existing literature on this regard has largely a predominant focus on economic effects, while the socio-cultural effects have not been given sufficient attention. The present study attempts to contribute filling this research gap and a stronger emphasis is given to the socio-cultural effects of local music of Turkmen. Methodologically, this study employs the hierarchy analysis method and Expert choice software. The results of this study from experts’ perspectives indicate two key patterns. On the one hand, the most attractive aspects of local music tourism include greater levels of social proud, social participation and social beauty. On the other hand, high crime rate, heavy traffic and weakening the local dialect account for the most destructive aspects of local music tourism.