Analysis of the Effects of Tourism Entrepreneurship on Rural Development (Case Study: Rural Areas of Rijab District in Kermanshah Province)

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of tourism entrepreneurship on the rural development of the rural areas of Rijab District. Kermanshah province, in which several factors influencing the development of this area through entrepreneurship tourism were analyzed. This study was carried out using a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population was composed of the villagers of Rajab District (N = 6700), and 259 of them were sampled for the study using Bartlett et al.’s table. The measuring instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity and reliability were checked and confirmed by the KMO test, Bartlett's test, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results of the factor analysis showed that the most significant positive effects of the arrival of tourists in rural areas include infrastructure development (variance: 35.41%), economic and welfare development (variance: 21.84%), and development employment (variance: 13.20%). The destruction of the business environment (variance: 9.35%) can be mentioned as one of the most important negative effects. Field surveys in the rural areas of Rajab District also revealed that rural tourism in these areas is underdeveloped and that some measures to develop rural tourism entrepreneurship are expanding amenities and services, empowering villagers, strengthening physical infrastructure and extending the government’s support for entrepreneurship and rural tourism, fostering a positive view on the development of rural tourism, raising psychological empowerment, teaching the customs and traditions of the villagers to the tourists, improving social security, and improving the belief and attitude toward tourism.