Modeling the Effective Factors in the Development of Mountain Sports Tourism with a Focus on Innovation (Case study: Tehran Metropolitan Mountains)

With a focus on innovation, the current study aims to provide a modeling pattern of the effective factors in the development of mountain sports tourism. The population included sports management specialists and all the state university professors of Sports Management in Tehran, the directors of mountaineering boards and tourism specialists of Tehran province. Given the limitations for choosing the sample, all the population was chosen as the sample from whom 100 questionnaires were collected. Kasker’s standard questionnaire (2012) was the instrument. After translation and localization, the validity of the questionnaire was verified by 10 specialized professors in the sports management field; using Cronbach’s alpha the reliability for the environment, development and innovation variables were 0.84, 0.91 and, 0.93 respectfully which show the high reliability of the questionnaire. The analysis of the data took place at two. The descriptive were used to describe the demographic features and in inferential statistics the structural equation modeling test was used through the PLS. The results of the modeling showed that the development variable on innovation has the most effect among all factors with 0.58 standard effect size. The environment on development was second with a 0.53 standard effect size and the environment on innovation with 0.41 standard effect size was the least effective among all factors. The findings of this study can be a platform for sports and tourism managers, tour guides and other organizations which work in relation to mountains to plan for an increase in creating jobs and revenues in this area.