An Analysis of the Role of Local Residents’ Destination Image and Perceived Effects of Tourists on Rural Tourism Sustainable Development

This study aims to investigate the role of Destination image and the perceived effects of local residents and tourists in the tourism development of the rural tourism region of Babolsar. The present study is an applied research in terms of purpose and it is a descriptive-correlation study. The population of the study consists of tourists who have visited the villages of Babolsar (Azizak, Karfun, Arabkhail) at least once. The statistical sample of tourists consists of 265 tourists selected using the convenience sampling method, and the statistical sample of the local population consists of 210 residents of the Babolsar region, where the villages have been selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected by questionnaire with five Likert scales. The data were analyzed by SPSS and LISREL software. The results showed that the Destination image of local residents and tourists affects tourism development both directly and indirectly by the mediating role of perceived socio-cultural and environmental effects, but only the Destination image of tourists affects tourism development indirectly by the mediating role of perceived economic effect.