نشریه مطالعات اجتماعی گردشگری
سال یازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 21، بهار 1402)

Considering the fact that customer loyalty is regarded as one of the most important concerns of hotel managers, this study sought to investigate the influence of human resources management activities on customer loyalty using a multi-level approach. The statistical population of the study comprised of managers, staff, and customers of four-star and five-star hotels in Mashhad. Moreover, the statistical sample size of the research at the organization level consisted of thirty-four, one-hundred and forty, two-hundred and forty managers, staff, and customers at organizational, staff, and customer levels, respectively. On the other hand, Sam’s 12-item questionnaire (2008) and the 17-item questionnaire developed by Al-Rafiei et al. (2013) were used to measure the human resources management activities and the staff’s satisfaction and loyalty, respectively, whose validity and reliability was tested using the Content validity method and Cronbach's alpha, respectively. Finally, HLM 7.02 and the SPSS software were used to analyse the collected data. The results proved the positive influence of human resources management activities on the staff’s satisfaction and loyalty, and in turn, on the satisfaction and loyalty of the customers. Therefore, it could be argued that hotel managers can increase the loyalty of their customers by emphasizing human resource management activities and improving their staff’s satisfaction and loyalty, which would increase the profitability of hotels in the long term by reducing marketing costs

This study sought to identify the antecedents of customers’ experience in the tourism industry using a mixed-method approach. To this end, first, 246 domestic and foreign relevant articles published from 2010 to 2020 were collected in the qualitative phase using the meta-synthesis method, out of which 52 articles were selected and analyzed via the content analysis method. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the results of the content analysis conducted on the articles mentioned, applying the opinions of 10 experts and specialists in marketing and tourism. The researcher-developed questionnaire was then administered to 440 Iranian tourists who had traveled to Turkey, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and UAE over the last five years (2016-2021). On the other hand, each construct of the proposed model was examined in terms of mono-dimensionality through a separate measurement model using Kline's method (2005) to ensure that the factor loading of the indicators and the correlation coefficient between factors do not exceed 0.5 and 0.85, respectively. Then, the reliability and validity of the constructs together with the construct validity, convergent validity, and divergent validity were measured, and Cronbach's alpha, Composite Reliability (CR), and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) were calculated. Finally, the model concerning the tourist experience antecedents was developed. According to the results of the study, a model comprising of four main components, including tourist management, tourism destinations’ management, tourism resource management, and tourism product management were developed based on the antecedents of the tourist experience using a mixed method approach (which is one of the innovations of the study).

Creative tourism is a type of emerging cultural tourism that focuses on skill development. Accordingly, cultural heritage, rituals, and handicrafts can be presented in such a way as to provide more interactions between visitors and the local population. In this regard, due to successive droughts in Isfahan city and thus the decreasing number of visiting tourists, it appears necessary to develop creative sociocultural tourism in the city, especially with regard to the Zayandehrood site. Therefore, this study sought to identify and prioritize socio-cultural factors involved in creative tourism from the perspective of the tourists who visited Zayandehrood using a descriptive-analytic and survey-based method. To this end, confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyze the collected data using the Amos software. The results indicated that among socio-cultural factors, it was the cultural ones that had the priority in creative tourism of Zayandehrood. Therefore, it could be argued that introducing the indigenous culture of the Zayandehrood area will be effective in attracting tourists even during the drought. Finally, Zayandehrood-based creative cultural tourism strategies were developed using the QSPM matrix, according to which "creating an atmosphere and organizing events based on the cultural capacities of Isfahan with an emphasis on Zayandehrood" turned out to be the prioritized strategy, with its score being 10.48.

Tourism can help create happiness and, therefore, provide people with the satisfaction of life. On the other hand, the presence of a "happy host" is a fundamental requirement for the successful development of tourism, making the monitoring of the tourism-induces happiness and satisfaction level a key factor in any such development program. In this regard, as assessing the issue in Noshahr and Chalous cities (as two main tourist destinations in northern Iran) is of particular importance, this study set out to investigate the role of tourism in constructing the indices of a happy city in Chalus and Nowshahr. The statistical population of the study comprised residents of Nowshahr and Chalous cities. Moreover, the sample size was estimated to be 380 using Cochran's formula, and the participants of the study were selected via the convenience sampling method. Finally, the data collected from the questionnaires distributed among the respondents were analyzed through structural equations and factor analysis using the SPSS and PLS software. The results revealed that tourism was effective in creating happy cities in Nowshahr and Chalous. However, according to the results of statistical tests, the extent of such influence was found to be very poor. It was also found that tourism slightly increased the welfare, happiness, social participation, and satisfaction of the residents of Nowshahr and Chalous cities.

As one of the largest and most profitable sub-sectors of tourism worldwide, Medical Tourism is considered an economic activity involving service exchanges, representing the link between at least medicine and tourism sectors. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the factors affecting the demands for medical tourism in Mashhad using the Multinomial Logit Model, which was estimated by Stata 16 software. The statistical population of the study comprised of domestic medical tourists who visited Mashhad in 2021, out of whom 150 people were selected as the participants. The dependent variable of the study was the demand for medical tourism in Mashhad, that was divided into low, high, and medium classes, and the required data was collected by administering a questionnaire. Accordingly, it was found that an increase in the quality of medical and urban services, low medical costs, and an increase in the tourists’ income would increase the demand for medical tourism in Mashhad. Moreover, the quality of medical services’ sub-indices and urban factors were also evaluated separately by the tourists who participated in this study.

Comprising medical and health (prevention) types of tourism, health tourism is of great importance for Iran, considering the country’s potential medical capabilities (the presence of qualified practicing physicians and extensive medical and treatment facilities) and appropriate natural health resources (such as hot springs, salt domes, salt lakes, and Mud therapy facilities). Moreover, the capacity of health tourism in terms of foreign exchange earnings is more than three times than that of ordinary international tourism. However, despite its great capacities, Iran has a modest share of the health tourism market, the increase in which requires the assessment of the elasticity of health tourism demand from the Middle East in terms of the relevant effective factors. Therefore, this study sought to find answers to the following basic questions: 1- What are the factors affecting the demand for health tourism? 2- What is the elasticity of the demand for health tourism in terms of such factors? To this end, this study assessed the demand for health tourism using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) and the simultaneous equation Model. Moreover, a questionnaire was administered to 182 tourists coming from the Persian Gulf countries to express their opinion regarding health tourism and estimate the elasticity of health tourism demands in terms of relevant effective factors. The results of the AIDS estimations revealed that the price elasticity of health tourism demand was greater than one, while the price elasticity of other products and accommodation services was less than one. Moreover, it was found that the elasticity of health tourists' demand from Iran belonged to significant variables such as the tourist’s income level, visa validity, expenses, exchange rate variations, and the inflation rate.

Developing the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem could be considered an appropriate strategy to accelerate the development of rural areas and increase job opportunities. On the other hand, applying entrepreneurship to Iran’s ecotourism and rural tourism is considered a supplement to agricultural activities to create favorable living conditions for the villagers and resolve the challenges existing in rural development. Therefore, this study sought to present a model for developing the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem in target tourism villages of Khorasan Razavi province using a qualitative research method with an applied descriptive-survey approach. To this end, the required data were collected via semi-structured interviews made with fifteen managers and board members of eco-tourist resorts. The data were then analyzed using the Grounded Theory method. Moreover, the validity and reliability of the model were measured via the Kappa index and confirmed by two researchers in the field of tourism and a few university professors. The study’s results suggested that the development of the ecosystem requires the decision maker to consider five aspects, including strategic orientation and effective leadership, identify appropriate sites’ locations, monitor the ecosystem’s development and provide its improvement mechanisms, set the demand-side policies, supply-side policies, and twelve sub-factors. Therefore, it could be argued that the proposed model may provide valuable insights for the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas with an emphasis on ecotourism opportunities.

Considering the fact that tourism is regarded as an essential industry that provides many opportunities for the development of communities, introducing and teaching tourism and its components by the education establishment is a crucially important strategy that can help develop tourism in a country. On the other hand, elementary school education forms the basis of all instructions, requiring special attention to be paid at this phase. Therefore, considering the role and significance of curriculum in teaching tourism concepts, especially the necessity for the inclusion of such concepts in textbooks, this study sought to analyze the content of the social studies textbooks taught at second-grade elementary school, taking tourism’s componential elements into account. To this end, Shannon’s entropy model was used to analyze the textbooks’ content (texts, images, tasks), designating the page as the unit of analysis. Moreover, the study's statistical population comprised of three textbooks designed to be taught at the fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade elementary school level, out of which 406 pages were selected. The results indicated that 994 items had addressed the components of tourism education. It was also found that the highest attention had been paid to "environmental protection", with its information load and coefficient correlation being 0.9849 and 0.1319, respectively. Furthermore, the lowest attention was reported to have been paid to the component of "roads and means of travel transportation," with its information load and coefficient correlation being 0.5203 and 0.0731, respectively.

Considering the relationship between tourists' motivations and the type of their trip, a clear and logical perception of the process could be of great significance. Therefore, this study sought to analyze the tourists’ motivations for traveling to the coastal cities of Mazandaran province, taking a distinct anthropological perspective by highlighting the concepts of leisure trips. As ethnography is the main method used by anthropologists to discover the elements existing in a field, this study used a qualitative method with an emphasis on ethnography. Primary data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews. To this end, 16 tourists who had visited the three coastal cities of Mahmoud Abad, Fereydoonknar, and Babolsar were selected via purposive sampling. The collected data were then analyzed using a three-stage coding system. In this regard, first, three categories, including "a place with a different structure", "in search of novel experiences", and "suspension" were identified. Finally, after performing the selective coding, the core category of "rites of passage" was extracted. According to the study’s results, it appears that the tourists who travel to the cities mentioned above for recreational purposes experience a mixed feeling of suspension and freedom from the requirements and responsibilities of daily life during the trip, which could be considered similar to the second phase of the theory of rites of passage.

The globalization of health means patients travel to other countries to receive medical treatment. Nowadays, healthcare is a global phenomenon. On the other hand, the establishment of multi-national hospitals, the competitive costs of healthcare worldwide, the internationalization of standards, and the fact that different countries are getting closer to each other in terms of specialized technologies are some indications of the globalization of healthcare. This applied exploratory study sought to develop a model for health tourism based on cultural indices in Iran using a mixed method. Accordingly, the required data were collected via semi-structured interviews and questionnaires at qualitative and quantitative phases, respectively. The statistical population of the study comprised of senior officials involved in health tourism policy making, professionals of Iran’s health tourism industry, and professors and faculty members in management who specialized in tourism and cultural studies, out of whom 100 participants were selected using Cochran’s formula. Finally, after multiple reviewing of the codes and combining them in several phases, some sixty-six sub-codes were identified, out of which eleven key factors were identified to be included in the intended cultural-indices-based model for health tourism in Iran.