Geographical Engineering of Territory

Geographical Engineering of Territory

Analysis of social and environmental challenges of sustainability of rural tourism businesses in Asara district

Authors
1 PhD student
2 Department of Geography - Faculty of Social Sciences - University of Zanjan
3 Department of Geography and Rural Planning - Faculty of Social Sciences - University of Zanjan.
Abstract
The present study is developmental-applied in terms of purpose and is classified as a qualitative research in terms of paradigm

The statistical population of this present study includes the owners of tourism businesses in the tourism target villages of Asara district, as well as experts, elites, local officials, and villagers. The sample size was obtained by non-probability snowball sampling with saturation (22 people). The collected data were analyzed through content analysis and classified through coding stages (open, axial, selective).

The results of the research show that the most important challenges in the social category include the lack of awareness and education index (lack of awareness of local people about the positive economic effects, lack of awareness of deputies and cultural heritage employees in the field of tourism, lack of training companies), the damage index to the host's clothing (throwing garbage by tourists, breaking fruit trees, and picking fruits by tourists), the challenge of changing the original village culture index (changing the clothing of the village youth and modeling it on tourists), the challenges of cultural incompatibility (negative attitude of some local people towards tourists and the reaction of the host community towards the type of clothing worn by tourists), the challenge of weak individual capabilities (lack of entrepreneurial ideas and lack of interest of residents in creating a tourism business, which is due to the strictness of obtaining permits), and the most important challenges of lack of security (inspection gates and inspection of tourists without permits and lack of risk management). The environmental category includes indicators of lack of infrastructure (one-way and closed roads, lack of parking, opening of freeways, lack of facilities such as gas, electricity, telephone for homes and businesses outside the context), inadequate environmental hygiene (dumping of garbage by tourists, lack of systems for collecting garbage, lack of garbage bins in the village, accumulation of garbage and lack of proper sanitary disposal of it, and the cost of garbage and emptying the septic tank), lack of environmentally responsible behavior (low environmental responsibility of business owners and their low participation in protecting environmental values, and failure to allocate part of their income to programs and measures related to environmental protection.
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  • Receive Date 23 February 2025
  • Revise Date 26 April 2025
  • Accept Date 26 April 2025
  • Publish Date 23 August 2026