Identifying and Explaining Multiple Functional and Non-Functional Factors in the Field of Sustainable Development of Rural Tourism: A case study of villages of Sarein city

The sustainable development of rural tourism is a multifaceted and very important phenomenon. Today, most countries are trying to use the capacity and potential of rural areas to create sustainable development of rural tourism. However, this category has different contexts and approaches, and different factors play a role. The main goal of the current research is to identify and explain multiple functional and non-functional factors in the sustainable development of rural tourism in the villages of Sarein, which has been investigated using a mixed method. The approach used in this research is a partially mixed sequential dominant status design, which takes place in two qualitative-qualitative phases. In the first phase, using the scope review qualitative method, relevant indicators have been identified and counted from related studies, and in the second phase, using the Delphi qualitative method, multiple functional and non-functional roles in the field of sustainable development of rural tourism have been explained from the perspective of experts have become. Based on the research findings, 17 related internal and external studies were identified in the first phase, and their confirmation indicators were extracted using the scope method. In the second phase, by holding three consecutive Delphi rounds, 12 experts categorized functional and non-functional indicators into six components and 81 indicators. According to the present research results, the sustainable development of rural tourism in Sarein is due to various causes and factors, each of which has multiple impacts and impressions. Rural tourism, as a huge and rich potential in various fields, has a developmental and reconstructive role in the villages of Sarein, and paying attention to its functional components can bring all-round rural development and progress and adopting measures for management and control of non-functional components also prevent other harms and threats.