An Ethnographic Research on the Role of Ecolodge in Family Dynamics

Ecolodge as an important platform to demonstrate ethnic tourism has been developed recently. Expansion of creative tourism which is community-based and empiricist has increased the importance of ecolodge  in tourism industry. It seems that the irregular increasement of  permits of ecolodges that are mostly not supported by socio-cultural investigations, has merely emphasized upon economic dimensions from an beneficial point of view thus needs a critical reflection. Since there is a direct and strong relation between this industry and family life, it is necessary to evaluate pros and cons of this numerical expansion. This ethnographic research with a gender sensitive view tries to answer to two questions: 1- What is the culture of ecolodge? 2- On the other hand how ecolodge impacts on family institution?  Gilan province- the field of this research- has a rich treasure of tangible and non-tangible cultural heritages and is one of the important destination places for ethnic tourism. Beside documental and liberary search, data were collected through participant observation and 74 interactional and in-depth interviews with the heads of selected ecolodges and also 11 specialized interviews with the heads of  the relevant institutions.