Sustainable Tourism Development Strategies in Rural Settlements (A Case of Vanaie Village in Borujerd)

Tourism in the context of spatial planning projects, whether the projects are national, regional or local, is one of the most effective components of development and deprivation. It is also one of the most important factors of regional development. Tourism is a balancing activity which causes economic and social development at the regional level as well as the equal distribution patterns of income and employment. Therefore, rural tourism is also a part of tourism industry which is considered to be the proper planning and delineating its advantages and limitations which in its own turn has an effective role in local and national development and diversification of the national economy. Thus, the questions of the present study were that what the potential and limitations of sustainable tourism development in the village of Vanai were; what strategies for sustainable tourism development would contribute to rural, regional and national development.The researchers of the present study used a field study to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats  as a SWOT  model for strategic planning and combined it with AHP to prioritize the strategies for sustainable tourism development in Vanai village. Experimental analysis in the area under study showed that due to the extreme vulnerability of the village, effective strategies are needed to eliminate the existing restrictions and thus to make use of its relative advantages.