Investigating the impact of tourism entrepreneurship indicators on sustainable rural development in the nomadic territories of Iran (Case study of Ardel county; Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province)

Introduction :

Due to the vastness of the geographical territory of Iran's nomadic society, there are many rural settlements in this biological space. Despite their many capacities, they face challenges such as poverty, unemployment, immigration, etc. Meanwhile, the development of tourism entrepreneurship can be an important capacity in order to solve the challenges of development in these villages.Purpose of the research: Investigating the impact of tourism entrepreneurship indicators on sustainable rural development in Ardel county is the main goal of this research.

This research was done with a combination of survey and descriptive-analytical methods. The statistical population includes 7574 heads of households and Using Sample Power software, 220 people were considered as a statistical sample. The main tool for collecting field data is a questionnaire whose validity and reliability have been confirmed. A stratified sampling method was used to distribute the questionnaires. Questionnaires were distributed among 18 villages of Ardal county, which were selected purposefully and the final sampling was done by simple random method. SPSS software was used for experiment and data analysis.Geographical area of research: The geographical territory of this study is Ardel county located in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

The findings showed that in the fitted regression model, the independent variables of the research explain 36% of the variable of sustainable rural development. Among the indicators of tourism entrepreneurship, the social-cultural compatibility index with a beta coefficient of 0.556 has had the greatest effect on sustainable rural development.

Considering that tourism entrepreneurship has an effect on sustainable rural development, it seems necessary and logical to develop and promote tourism entrepreneurship through the support of the public and private sectors, taking into account the active participation of villagers in this process. Because by following this process, sustainable rural development can be strengthened.