On the Effects of Tourism Development on Rural Areas (A Case Study of Giayn District, Nahvand County)

Tourism plays a significant role in the development of the society at different levels and is seen as an important source of employment and income especially in rural areas. Considering its different potential impacts, the present study aims to explore the effects of tourism development on the rural area of Giyan district. The target population comprised the residents of rural areas in the vicinity of Giyan tourism district (N=7500). Using the Cochran’s formula, the sample size was estimated to be 285, and a completely random sampling method was applied for data collection. A self-administered questionnaire was used as research instrument whose face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. In order to estimate the reliability of the questionnaire, a Cronbach’s alpha was used for the pre-test. The reliability and validity of the factor analysis were estimated by Composite Reliability (CR) and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for study components, respectively. In addition to the descriptive analysis, an Explanatory Factor Analysis and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed to classify research variables. It was found that from the residents’ viewpoint, the major effects of tourism include ‘improved job opportunities’, ‘increased income’ and ‘decreased number of agricultural sector employees’ The results of factor analysis revealed that economic, socio-cultural, and environmental factors account for 63% of the total variance. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that all the employed indices were acceptable to fit the model. Moreover, it was shown that the economic factor, with a coefficient of 0.93, had the highest share in explaining the latent variable of the effects of tourism development.