A Study on Physical Effects of Formation of Second Homes on Sarein Tourist Area from the Stakeholders’ points of view

Tourism and its fast development as well as the creation of the second homes as a result of the presence of tourists in the tourist areas are an important matter regarding the effects they have on the host community. The second homes and their expansion has advantages and disadvantages. Sarein City in Ardabil Province, due to the existence of the hot springs, has undergone remarkable physical development and thereby, the creation and expansion of the second homes. The current study aims to investigate the physical effects of the creation and expansion of second homes from stakeholders’ (the tourists, the local community, and the tourism officers) points of view in Sarein tourist area. The physical effects of the second homes extracted from the theoretical foundations of the study are summarized and a researcher-made questionnaire is developed. The validity of the questionnaire is calculated by Cronbach’s alpha (α=0.82). The statistical population is estimated 577 persons in three groups of stakeholders, using the Cochran formula. The SPSS software is used to analyze the data collected from the questionnaires and the one-sample t-test is used to test hypotheses. The results indicate that all three groups of stakeholders generally agree with the improvement in physical conditions. Investigating the micro-factors, the factors such as increasing facilities and services, improving administrative facilities, constructing buildings with new materials, improving communication channels, more attention of managers to development and construction, accelerating construction projects through tourists’ financial assistance, providing development opportunities in the region in the long run, etc. are among the positive physical effects of the second homes. On the other hand, the increase in the building costs and the creation of an architectural style different from the indigenous architecture is among the negative effects from the  stakeholders’ points of view