Interpretation of Social Discourses on Development of Natural Tourism Using Q methodology (Case of Oak Forests, Ilam Province)

Sustainable tourism as an adoptive paradigm, which could be conducive to sustainable development, associated with the local communities’ prosperity and wellbeing is the outcome of local and strategic management of social, environmental and economic resources. Sustainability is achieved by harmonizing the specific values, attitudes and knowledge of each target community. Management of natural resources additionally requires recognizing and considering the views of stakeholders and attitude of beneficiaries as the key component of decision making process. A complex of subjectivities, attitudes, opinions, meanings and representations concerning the oak forests, tourism development and rural area must be identified to achieve comprehensive understanding and assessing of function and sustainably implement of tourism. In order to contextualization of this diversity at the local level, the Q methodology was used that showed be appropriate approach for interpretation and discrimination of existing discourses. Three distinct discourses were identified. The "sustainable rural ecotourism development discourse", is characterized by an unambiguously positive view of tourism and positive aspects of the economic effects of it at the local scale, without paying attention to its macro dimensions and negative effects. "Conservation discourse incompatible with tourism development" has a great emphasis on the dimensions of environmental protection and the possible negative effects of tourism development in natural areas, due to its focus on the protection of forest ecological areas, it does not agree with the development of forest-based tourism, and development of tourism beyond the regional concerns is pivotal in "trans-local mass tourism development discourse", with the aim of getting out from national economic crisis, were identified.