Sustainable assessment of religious tourism(Case study : Emamzade Hamze Ali – Chaharmahal and Bakhtiaree province)

Introduction:

Religious tourism is one of the significant areas of world tourism. Religious tourism is very important field of tourism and climate problems or bad weather, it will not be prevented. Religious tourism is as old as the history of religious culture. According to the World Tourism Organization studies each year 600 million people travel by motives of religious and spiritual.Today more and more countries seeking to develop tourism as a major source of employment and income. religious tourism is vital in Iran and has important role in many travels. The vast country of Iran, with a great variety of cultures that has led to the formation of various customs throughout the country, has many religious attractions, monuments, shrines and holy sites, in addition to having various attractions, everywhere it is Has been conducive to the development of religious tourism. Total Imamzadeh Iran is 8051 cases. In addition, 33 Prophets are buried in the country, who are part of the Prophets who have a special position with the Shiites. from total Imam Zadeh, seven percent in rural areas, 23 percent in urban areas, 18 percent in mountainous areas, and others in roads and desert areas. Among the provinces of the country, Fars province with 14%, followed by Mazandaran with 12% of the first and second ranked number of Imam Zadeh. The Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province also has a total of 1% of Imam Zadegan.One of the most important centers in religious tourism is Emamzadeh Hamze Ali in Chaharmahal And bakhtiaree province. And accept a lot of tourist every year. These tourists have various impacts in some levels such as economical , social , environmental and physical level. Now the question is what is the sustainability of this center and where is located this center in the life cycle of tourism.Methodology The aim of this study is applied and method is descriptive and analytical . and aims is assess the impact of tourism sustainability in Emamzadeh Hamze Ali. The study population consisted of tourists and pilgrims that visit the holy shrine. The total volume of tourists and pilgrims that visit the shrine during the year is about 600,000 people. Most viewed is in the months of June, July, August and September . The average daily page views this month about 4,000 people, and other months of the year about 500 people. The total sample size of torists are 350 cases according to Cochran formula. The variables of this study used via identified the experience of other similar studies and surveys of experts. The total levels of study are 4 levels (economical , social , environmental and physical) and the total variables are more than 50 cases.

Respondent information: Of the total number of respondents, 61 percent were men and 39 percent were women. For the duration of their stay, 73% of these tourists were daily tourists, with 27% of tourists staying overnight. The origin of these tourists is 65% of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, 19% of Isfahan province, 9% of Khuzestan province and 7% of other provinces. Also, 11% were illiterate, 23% elemental, 40% diploma and 26% bachelor and higher. The mean age was also 20% 18-29 years old, 42% 30-49 years old, and 38% 50 years old.To assess dimensions of sustainable development, information gathered from classified to prepare and insert into models of sustainability assessment process .we used 63 variable to assess sustainability at the destination. some of these variables includes: Creating jobs, Buy agricultural products by tourists, Indigenous employment in the tourism sector, Access to credit and banking services, Spreading handicrafts, Private sector investment , Improved facilities and educational services, Improvement of cultural facilities and services, Promote the standard of living of people Addiction, Theft, crime, Respecting the guest, Attention to the local culture of the people, Local community satisfaction from tourism, Participation of local residents in planning, Interaction between tourists and the host community, Rural migration, Protecting the Imam Zadeh Cultural Heritage, Quality of access routes, Communication development, Access to Healthy and Healthy Drinking Water, Access to the proper sanitary, Suitable mobile coverage, Tourists access to therapeutic space, Access to commercial spaces, Access to parking and ….The study of economic variables shows that things like seasonality of tourism revenues, rising costs, and economic inequality are not good and are in an unstable and almost unstable situation. In the social dimension, addiction, theft, and delinquency are the worst of all. In the environmental dimension, about 75% of the variables are unstable or almost unstable, the worst of which is the loss of drinking water and agriculture, pressure on resources, and environmental degradation. In the physical dimension, road accidents, access to sanitation and health care services have the worst condition than other variables. based on the analysis performed , the highest stability is related to social sustainability ( 5.13 value) and this level of sustainable development is medium condition. After that physical sustainability is in the next rank (4.97 value) . the least sustainability is related to environmental level (3.71 value) and after that is economical level (4.34 value). In general, all aspects of sustainable development is evaluated in intermediate level (4.6 value).

In total, according to the survey, of all respondents, the sustainability of Emamzadeh Hamze Ali is in medium level and especially in environmental sustainability the condition is bad and planning for having a suitable condition in this center is very essential. In Butler tourism life cycle model this center is in the second atage . In the this stage, people engaging and has action. This phase is to increase tourism activities and the number of tourists started to increase. Usually tourists stay shorter time but more people to come to a place. Tourism businesses are starting to build a professional services and facilities. Small hotels and places to eat is under construction.