Evaluation the environmental quality of rural areas with an emphasis on tourism development (case study: villages of Mahan District)

Sustainable rural development, protection of the natural environment and increasing environmental quality are required to be taken when planning for rural areas with potential for tourism. These issues are crucial because on the one hand they are the maintaining the rural population and on the other hand it helps to attract tourists to rural destinations.

This research seeks to evaluate the environmental quality of villages in Mahan District of Kerman Province to develop tourism.

In terms of method, this study is descriptive-analytical using a researcher-made questionnaire and Excel software. The statistical samples of this research includes 24 experts in the field of tourism who were selected by snowball sampling. Data collection was done through surveys. In this research, environmental quality was considered as an independent variable in three environmental, social and economic dimensions with 19 indicators and tourism as a dependent variable. For analyzing the data, the study used FAHP and FDEMATEL models.

Geographical Context: 

The geographical territory of the current research is the villages of Mahan District of Kerman Province.

Therefore, Social indicator with a weight of 0.578 had the highest value and the economic indicator with a weight of 0.173, showed the lowest value. In total, the highest impact and effectiveness and importance among the three indicators were for the social index with an average of 5.315 and the lowest importance was for environmental indicator with an average of 0.947.

Based on the results of the findings, regarding the economic factors, it is suggested to support creative businesses and benefit from innovative people who need financial support. In addition, for the increase in the price of land in the villages, building tourism units with low interest loans can be considered in the village. In the social and environmental dimensions, we suggest the provision of training for preserving the rural environment by public associations and local mass media, and to design regulations to encourage creative people and enforce law for environmental offenders at the village level.