Assessing the Status of Agricultural Tourism in the West of Mazandaran in terms of Sustainability

One of the development policies tailored to the conditions of rural areas is sustainable agricultural tourism. Most countries of the world have considered this type of tourism as a new strategy for the development of rural areas, but the sustainability of agricultural tourism in Iran, especially in Mazandaran province, is doubtful. This descriptive-correlation study was conducted to explain the sustainability of agricultural tourism in the west of Mazandaran province and the variables affecting it. The statistical population of the study was 72 farmers with agricultural tourism sites in the west of Mazandaran province who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was based on theoretical foundations and three Delphi stages through interviews with 21 experts in the field of agricultural tourism in various organizations that were purposefully selected, 86 indicators in the terms of social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions were identified. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cranach's alpha. The Prescott-Allen five classes were used to evaluate the degree of stability. The results showed that the situation of agricultural tourism in western Mazandaran is unstable. This sustainability in social, cultural and environmental dimensions is almost unstable and economically moderate. Tonekabon city had better stability in three dimensions of social, cultural and environmental than Ramsar and Chalous cities, but this difference was not significant according to ANOVA test. The results of multiple regression analysis also showed that the three variables of farm size, history of activity in the field of agricultural tourism and income had the greatest impact on farmer's views regarding the sustainability of agricultural tourism. In order to develop agricultural tourism, it is necessary to pay attention to the principles of sustainability and its various dimensions in order to avoid harm in the direction of sustainable development while enjoying its benefits