Search published articles


Showing 2 results for Agricultural Tourism

Kebria Moradi, Hamdollah Sojasi Qeidary, Hamid Shayan, Omid Ali Kharazmi,
Volume 10, Issue 38 (3-2022)
Abstract

Introduction
In recent decades, the international growth of agricultural tourism in rural economies has raised a number of important policy-related topics for local development planning, the most important of which is the development of production and support for entrepreneurship in agricultural tourism. Given that entrepreneurship in all areas, including agricultural tourism, is a complex phenomenon, agricultural tourism as a complex system encompasses a large range of interactions between economic, environmental, social, technical and financial elements. Therefore, the development of entrepreneurial businesses for agricultural tourism is based on the framework of the factors that make up the environment of a system. Therefore, all these factors must be investigated. Because these factors are interrelated and interact directly and indirectly. In this regard, identifying key factors and factors in the development of entrepreneurial businesses as a complex system can help to revitalize rural areas of the region and is effective in realizing the goals of entrepreneurship in rural areas. Therefore, in this research, it will be tried to identify the proposed dimensions and components for the development of entrepreneurial businesses in the field of agricultural tourism, and the model of development of entrepreneurial businesses in agricultural tourism will be provided based on the causality model.

Methodology
The current research is an applied research and regarding the results, it is an exploratory research. In this regard, the factors affecting the development of entrepreneurial businesses in agricultural tourism were identified and classified in four socio-cultural, individual skills, tourism facilities and policies. This research also focuses on the rural areas of Mahallat town due to its potential and its ability to develop agricultural tourism. According to field studies of 40 villages in the studied area in two districts of Khorheh and Bagherabad, 21 villages with agricultural tourism capability were identified and selected. In order to investigate the effect of each variable in the causal factors model, 30 questionnaires were designed and delivered to the executive and academic elites. Vensim software was used to draw the causal diagram based on systematic thinking, and to analyze the collected data, descriptive and inferential statistics (single sample and Friedman) were used in SPSS software.

Discussions and Results
The results of t test indicate that the factor of policy making and its related variables are the highest mean and then the factor of facilities and services of tourism with 4.02, the factor of individual skills with 3.8, socio-cultural factor with 3.7 and the factor of local capacity with 3.6 are placed in the next ranks respectively. Regarding the fact that in recent years, entrepreneurship is considered as one of the important components of job creation and economic development in societies, so in the last few decades, policymakers in different societies have tried to develop entrepreneurial policies for economic growth. Also, given that the rural development plays a very important role in national development, the development of entrepreneurial activities in rural areas can be considered as a tool for national development. The results of the research on the basis of the t test show that the impact of the policy making factor on the development of entrepreneurial businesses in agricultural tourism is ranked first, and the factor of tourism facilities and services, socio-cultural factors, individual skills and local agricultural capacities are the next ranks respectively. The results of the Friedman test also indicate that the factor of policy making is ranked first by the experts, so the findings of this study indicate that the government as the most influential factor through policies and policies related to the development of entrepreneurial entrepreneurship in the field of agricultural tourism and supportive policies can enhance the motivation and the fields of entrepreneurship development in the villages. On the other hand, it has a direct impact on other factors as well. Also, the cultural and social factor and policy will have a significant impact on the individual skills factor as there are positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship in the community as well as policy makers support entrepreneurial activities in rural areas, the desire for entrepreneurial activities in agricultural tourism grows in local communities. It also boosts social and communication skills, entrepreneurship creativity and innovation, and high-quality services, resulting in tourists coming to the region more frequently and defining their good experience everywhere. Also, the factors of policy making and individual skills will directly affect the factors of the facilities and services of the tourism because when qualified human resources are trained in local communities, especially experienced tour guides and thus creating interaction between tourists and residents of the region and awareness of tourists' needs can serve as a stimulating factor for satisfaction and safety of tourists. Local capacity factor is also an important factor in the development of entrepreneurial businesses in rural areas, because there is no potential and developmental capacity for this type of tourism in many areas.

Akbar Pourfaraj, Maryam Naghavi,
Volume 11, Issue 42 (1-2023)
Abstract

 Introduction
Agritourism, regarded as a sustainable development strategy for rural communities, is a tool for economic diversification and conserving land resources, agricultural landscapes and cultural assets. The rural areas of Mazandaran Province are a significant agricultural hub of the country due to their abundant capabilities such as soil fertility, vast plains, good climate and sufficient water resources. This province is also known as one of the most visited tourist destinations with mass tourism form in the country. These capabilities are compatible with developing niche tourism, such as agritourism. Therefore, it is necessary for the tourism governance of Mazandaran to combine the activities of the two sectors of agriculture and tourism to encourage and promote agritourism to preserve the region's agricultural lands and agricultural heritage and traditions in order to prevent unsustainable development. However, success in agritourism requires attention to the issue of planning and demand management to attract interested tourists and also understanding why and how the behavioral processes pattern and their travel decisions. Therefore, this study aims to understand the factors affecting the behavioral intentions of tourists towards agritourism in rural areas of Mazandaran Province. In order to understand and explain the decision-making process, the Planned Behavior model was used to examine the attitudes of tourists towards agricultural activities, their subjective norms and perceived behavioral control as determinants of tourists' behavioral intentions. This model provides suitable conditions for obtaining the necessary information and awareness about tourists' specific behaviors and inclinations towards agritourism.

 Methodology 
This descriptive and quantitative study is based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The study's statistical population is the tourist who has experience travelling to rural areas of Mazandaran. The number of statistical samples was estimated at 220 people. Data were collected through a web-based questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: demographic and specialized questions. Specialized questions included two items for measuring behavioral intention variable (BI), two items for attitude towards agritourism (ATT), three items for subjective norms (SN), three items for perceived behavioral control variable (PBC) and one item for past experience (PE). The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed using content, construct, convergent, divergent and diagnostic validity. Also, its reliability was confirmed by composite reliability and pre-test of 30 questionnaires based on Cronbach's alpha test. Data classification and analysis were performed through SPSS25 and SmartPLS3.3.3.

Discussion and conclusion
Finally, the results showed that the factors of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control had affected the behavioral intentions of tourists to visit agricultural farms and rural areas in Mazandaran Province. It was also found that tourists with a positive belief and attitude towards agritourism activities are more inclined to visit agricultural and rural environments. Compared to other factors determining behavioral intentions, subjective norms have the greatest impact on the intention to the agricultural and rural environment. In other words, the intention to visit increases when people (such as family, relatives, friends or colleagues) and influential persons in virtual spaces recommend travelling to agricultural destinations in rural areas of Mazandaran Province. According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions (national culture), Iran is ranked as one of the collectivist countries and cultures (41), and therefore the people of our society are more affected by social norms. Furthermore, this study found that perceived behavioral control has a positive effect on the behavioral intentions of tourists to visit the agricultural environment of rural areas in Mazandaran Province. Tourists believe that their confidence in their ability to make such trips, as well as enough money and time for vacations, influences their behavioral intentions to visit the agricultural and rural areas of this destination. Although past experience is effective in the relationship between attitude and behavioral intentions, the past experience of tourists had a moderate effect. In this province, because most of the lands are engaged in agricultural activities, little attention has been paid to agritourism activities. In other words, agritourism is a new sector in this traditional destination. Therefore, the previous experiences of tourists do not include in-depth and participatory experiences in agritourism activities and include items such as entertainment and shopping. It should be noted that tourists in this study had a strong tendency to participate in recreational and entertainment activities and did not want to participate in agritourism activities because most of the tourists in this destination are leisure tourists and are not specialized tourists agritourism. Therefore, creating a brand and a new image of rural areas of Mazandaran as an agritourism destination is recommended.

 


Page 1 from 1     

© 2024 CC BY-NC 4.0 |

Designed & Developed by : Yektaweb