Analyzing Ecotourism Effects on Local Communities' Empowerment(Case study: Savadkuh County)

Given the rise in popularity of ecotourism, investigating its impacts on the local community is of great importance. Thus, this study aimed to analyze ecotourism’s effects on the empowerment of local communities. In this regard, based on the empowerment wheel conceptual framework (Mendoza-Ramos, 2013) a survey was conducted in Savadkuh County. The sample size was calculated to be 240 people according to Daniel's sampling formula and was accessed through the convenience-sampling method. Data were collected through a questionnaire, the validity of which was approved by a panel of experts and construct validity (AVE Index). The reliability of the questionnaire was approved by calculating Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR). The data were analyzed by SPSS22 and Smart PLS software. Besides the confirmation of indicators’ homogeneity and reliability, the results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that local community empowerment's measurement model had five components (i.e. psychological, environmental, political, economic, and social). In addition, results revealed that the total mean score of local people empowerment was 3.1 out of 5. The highest mean scores were for the psychological (3.35) and environmental (3.22) dimensions of empowerment, respectively. The lowest mean scores were for the political (2.89) and economic (2.96) dimensions of empowerment, respectively. The social empowerment dimension (3.10) was almost at a moderate level. Accordingly, it is recommended to improve the political and economic empowerment of Savadkuh County’s local people through participatory approaches and facilitation techniques.