Needs Assessment of Creating a Smart Tourism Villagein Bandar-Anzali

Today, tourism is one of the most dynamic activities in creating socio-economic transformation in the world, which has become increasingly important. Whereas coastal cities, as one of the most attractive spaces for tourists, have important economic, scientific, medical centers, etc..; therefore, in order to achieve sustainable tourism development, cities must be considered from all social, cultural, economic and environmental dimensions. Due to the advancement of technology and technological tools, the field of tourism also needs to be reviewed and changed. Therefore, a smart tourism destination with the level of utilization of innovative electronic and technological facilities and equipment is introduced. In other words, the development and quality of smart tourism platforms is an inevitable necessity and the importance of improving the level of intelligence of existing tourism infrastructure is always raised. But the fragmentation and vastness of this infrastructure is very costly and time consuming. Hence the need to create a tourist village in a smaller area, especially in coastal cities to accelerate its realization. Therefore, the present article as the main goal, assesses the need to establish a smart tourism village in Bandar-Anzali city, which has become one of the most important tourist attractions in Gilan province due to its beautiful beaches, natural attractions and beautiful landscapes.

The present research is applied based on the purpose of the research, and in order to achieve the objectives of the research, on the one hand, the situation and position of tourism in the region should be recognized and on the other hand, its level of sustainability should be measured so that the necessity and need of creating a smart tourist village can be better explained. Therefore, the Butler life cycle model was selected to identify the situation and position of tourism in the region, and the Prescott Allen model was determined to distinguish the level of sustainability. In the present article, the data were prepared in two categories such as questionnaire information and data collected from related organizations. Therefore, in addition to the Delphi method, 20 experts in the field of tourism and 384 samples in the two groups of the host and guest community in equal numbers were sampled according to the Cochran table in winter 2020. Then, through Prescott Allen's sustainability model, the trend of smart tourism sustainability was classified.

In order to provide a proper understanding of the current situation in the Butler life cycle explanation model, 21 items have been used in the questionnaire items in order to explaining the view of the host and guest community in terms of quantity, motivation and type of travel, the level of awareness of recognizing the tourism destination, the effects of tourism in different areas, the effects of management and planning, infrastructure and centralized intelligence activities. According to the results obtained from the Butler model, Bandar-Anzali city is in a range of sustainability stages. The level of satisfaction with tourism activity in the tourist village with a value of 0.64 in the Butler model has been largely satisfied by the host and guest respondents as well as experts. This degree of value in Prescott Allen's classification is at the level of potential stability. The level of familiarity with smart tourism, with a value of 0.27 in the Butler model, has been met to a small extent by the host and guest respondents as well as experts. This degree of value in Prescott Allen's classification is at the level of potential instability. The item of cyber infrastructure in the field of tourism, with a value of 0.16 in the Butler model, has been largely met by the host and guest respondents. This degree of value in Prescott Allen's classification is unstable. However, from the perspective of experts in this field, the value of this item is estimated to be 0.59 in the Butler model on average. This degree of value in Prescott Allen's classification is at a moderate level of stability. As a result, it can be said that the items related to smart tourism infrastructure are at the level of instability; which is very significant by those involved in this field and on the other hand, the level of satisfaction of the host community with tourism activities in the tourist village is at the level of potential sustainability and can be trusted and considered with a little focus and strategic plan.

According to the studies conducted in the current situation, the need for smart tourism is in the semi-life stage and in transition to the stage of consolidation and maturity, which is even more felt in the Post-Corona situation. Therefore, the need for this type of tourism (smart one) by strengthening the cyber infrastructure of the host community can put itself in the stage of stabilization and maturity for a long time. What seems more important than other factors, is to change attitudes and introduce the advantages of this type of tourism in the form of a smart village in the host community. If this situation is stabilized, it can be a good model for the development of smart tourism, especially in tourist villages.