Investigating the Impact of Tourism on Local Residents' Satisfaction: bottom-up spillover theory (Case study: Kamardough Region)

 Tourism is one of the industries with the strongest development momentum in the global economy, encompassing too many positive and negative effects. One of the key factors in local tourism development, is local residents’ satisfaction. Understanding the relation between tourism effects, and residents’ satisfaction of their lives, plays a key role in the future success of tourism destinations. bottom-up spillover theory recognizes this relation. The basic premise of bottom-up spillover theory is that life satisfaction is on top of attitude (or satisfaction) hierarchy; and therefore is influenced by satisfaction with life domains (e.g., satisfaction with the community, family, work, social life, health, and so on). this research explores the link between community residents’ perceptions of tourism (economic, social, cultural, and environmental) impacts, with residents’ satisfaction with particular life domains (material well-being, community well-being, emotional well-being, and health and safety well-being); and overall life satisfaction. The Research method is quantitative-analytic. The survey instrument was a questionnaire. The statistical population of this research consisted of all of Kamardough Region's residents. the sample was determined through Krejcie-Morgan Table; and selected through the Random Sampling method (n=220). The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. the reliability of the questionnaire was approved using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α= 0/73-0/91). regression analysis showed that the impact of material well-being, health well-being, community well-being, and emotional well-being, has been significant in residents' satisfaction from the region. These variables could finally predict 34.4% of variances in the satisfaction variable. While, the two material well-being, and emotional well-being, had more power in predicting the individual satisfaction, comparing the other two variables. Innovation: The study's innovation is in using bottom-up spillover theory.