Analyzing the Relationship between Participation of Local Communities and Sustainable Development of Ecotourism in Areas on Protection (Case Study: Lar National Park and Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument)

In the current research, the level of sustainability in two different types of protected areas of Tehran province including Lar National Park and Tangeh Vashi National Natural Monument has been compared. In addition, the evaluation of the participation of local communities and ecotourists has been done in order to measure the impact of participation on the level of sustainability of ecotourism development in these areas. The present study is theoretical-practical in terms of its purpose, and descriptive-analytical and comparative in terms of its nature. The data was collected by documentary and survey method, in which the data was prepared according to previous studies, documents and international references by tourism organizations. Questionnaire, interview and observation tools were also used in the survey method. The analysis of data and information was done in a quantitative way, which used descriptive and inferential statistical tests and the ANP model for statistical analysis. The statistical population and sample size of the study include local communities and ecotourists. The validity of the research is based on structural and formal methods, and its reliability is calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The results of the network hierarchy analysis indicate that the highest points assigned to the effective variables in the sustainable development of ecotourism include biodiversity, ecosystem, monitoring-control and participation; And on the other hand, the lowest scores are related to the variables of access to ecotourism infrastructure and facilities, population density, number of plans and projects, and ecotourism costs. The results also indicated that the level of sustainability in Lar National Park is 4 (from 5), and in Vashi Gorge National Natural Park is 2.3. Also, the highest level of participation among local communities and ecotourists is related to Lar National Park.