Presenting a Sports Tourism Development Model with Emphasis on Social Factors (Case study of Lorestan province)

This study aimed to present a model for the development of sports tourism in the province of Lorestan, focusing on social factors. In this study, the research method was a survey using structural equation modeling and applied research in the field. The population of this study was all sports tourists in Lorestan province. According to Cochran's formula and cluster random sampling method in the first and second stages of non-probability, sampling method 384 persons were selected.The data-gathering tool in this study was based on expert opinions including 5 dimensions and 29 items. The social factors included security, socio-cultural, economics, tourism services, and advertising. lecturers and experts in terms of content validity approved these questionnaires. Using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, the reliability of cultural and social dimensions was 0. 94, economic 0. 97, security 0. 96, quality of tourism services 0. 92 advertisement and 0. 94. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, chart, mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistics of skewness and elongation test, t-test and SWARA, and structural equation modeling were used. The results showed that security: 30. 261, socio-cultural: 28. 121, quality of tourism services: 25. 759, economics: 25. 433 and advertisement: 20. 307 had a significant effect on the development of sports tourism in the Lorestan province. Among all of these factors, security 30. 261 has obtained the first rank in effects of sports tourism development. Furthermore, according to the structural equation modeling results, the main research model had a good fit, which indicates that the conceptual model of sport tourism development with emphasis on social factors is optimal and fits. Using all dimensions as independent variables, the Lorestan province sports tourism development can be predicted. It is concluded that authorities should focus on all social variables to design a tourism development model.