Investigation the Effects of Land Subsidence Awareness on Responsible Tourism (Case Study: Neyshabur City Area)

Land subsidence is one of the environmental hazards that humanity has faced in recent decades due to excessive extraction of groundwater resources in alluvial areas. This phenomenon, like other hazards (earthquakes, droughts, floods, storms, landslides, etc.), is considered an obstacle to socio-economic and civil development. The Neyshabur Plain is one of the most important plains in Khorasan Razavi Province in terms of agriculture and population density, which is located in the northeast of Iran with an arid and semi-arid climate. In this study, Sentinel 1A satellite images were used in a 5-year period (2017 to 2022) to monitor the rate of subsidence within the city of Neyshabur. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of land subsidence awareness on responsible tourism within the city of Neyshabur. The results of radar interferometry studies showed that 18 cm of subsidence occurred in the study area during a 5-year period. Data from piezometric wells in the area were used to determine the cause of land subsidence, and their changes were examined during the period 1370-1398. The registered subsidence rates for each period were 4 cm for 2017-2018 (1395-1396), about 6 cm for the period 2018-2019 (1396-1397), 5 cm for the period 2019-2020 (1397-1398), 2 cm for the period 2020-2021 (1398-1399), and 1 cm for the period 2021-2022 (1399-1400). The results of the study showed that there is a close relationship between the decline in groundwater levels and areas with land subsidence in the city of Neyshabur, which has affected responsible tourism. Especially in the northern part of the city, which has the highest groundwater level decline of 36.78 meters and is also in a high subsidence risk zone. According to the analysis of the results obtained in SPSS and Smart Pls software, all factor loading scores were higher than 0.5, Cronbach's alpha for both main values ​​was confirmed and more than 0.7, and the AVE coefficients were also obtained more than 0.5, and validity and reliability were confirmed. Finally, the effect of awareness of subsidence on responsible tourism was confirmed, indicating that awareness of Neyshabur subsidence, as an environmental challenge, has affected tourists' tourism decisions.