Introduction
In rural areas, tourism, as one of the most popular forms of tourism can, lead to economic growth and diversification of rural enterprises. On the other hand, it attracts surplus, employment oppurtunities and generate income for villagers, thus giving them an opportunity to develop holistically. In recent years, in line with the growth of tourism d in rural districts, the study of effects and dynamics of rural tourism has become a productive area for interdisciplinary research. One key focus is investigating the impact of tourism on empowerment of rural communinities. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine the role and effects of rural tourism on empowering local societies in social, cultural and economic aspects within the villages of the central district of Natanz.
Methodology
The present study is descriptive-analytical in both purpose and nature. Necessary information was collected through library and field studies. To operationalize the components of the research, 72 specialists have been used based on the five-level Likert scale, encompassing three dimensions: cultural, social and economic dimensions. Additionally, to gain insights into the society, eight general questions were posed. The data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics, employing SPSS software for AMOS modeling. The population of rural residents in the central part of Natanz city consists of 4046 individuals with a sample size calculated using the Morgan table, resulting in 301 participants. A simple random sampling method was employed and the validity was established through face validity, while reliability was confirmed by Cronbache’s Alpha coefficient (0.927). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, T-tests, ANOVA, Leven, LSD in SPSS software. Also, for modeling the effect of developing cultural indices on the inclination toward tourism development, modeling was conducting using AMOS software.
Results
The significance level less than 0.05 of the impact of tourism on social and cultural indices confirms these effects. The negative lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence interval for analyzing the role of rural tourism development in improving economic indices indicate that the effect of tourism development on economic indices was below average. The results of the ANOVA test reveal unequal averages in the impact of tourism on the development of these indices. Complementary results from the LSD post-test suggest that tourism has influenced the development of cultural, social and finally economic indices, in that order. Additionally, the results of structural equations modeling demonstrate that values and customs, as two factors constituting the latent variable of the cultural aspect, have significantly affected the manifest variable of supporting tourism development. This effect is corroborated by factor loadings of 0.24 and 0.25.
Discussion and Conclusion
One-sample t-test was conducted to examine the impact of tourism effect on the promotion of cultural, social and economic indicators. The significance level of less than 0.05 regarding the effect of tourism on enhancing cultural and social indicators confirms these effects. The positive and low levels at a 95% confidence interval indicate that the status of cultural and social indicators among individuals has improved as a result of tourism development. Therefore, it can be stated that the results of the research were align with Husam, Mohammadi Yeganeh and Cheraghi (1395). The results of the study on the performance of rural tourism development on improving economic indicators with significant levels below 0.05 and negative high safety margins within the 95% confidence interval, indicates that the impact of tourism development on enhancing economic indicators in the study area is less than the average reported in the survey. This finding contradicts with the results of Aliqoli-Zadeh Firoozjai, Badri and Faraji Sibbar (2007), Robin Beidolf (2015), and Mahmudi, Ghasemi and Shayan (2015), which highlight the positive impact of tourism development. However, it aligns closely with research conducted by Jama Poor and Kiumars (2012), which have been indicative of the negligible economic impact of tourism. The results of the ANOVA test indicate the inequality of the average tourism effects on the promotion of indicators. A significant level of 0.30 indicates that there is a difference between the mean cultural, social and economic dimensions of tourism effects in rural areas. Denying a zero assumption means that at least one of the groups is different from the other. There are a variety of methods for comparing the mean of the groups, one of which is the LSD post test. The results show that the average effect of economic indicators has been lower than social and cultural effects due to the significant level and low and high levels of confidence. Thus, one can conclude that tourism has been effective in promoting cultural, social and economic indicators, respectively. The findings of structural equation modeling show that values and customs as two factors shaping the hidden variable of cultural dimension on the obvious variable supporting the development of tourism considering the lambda parameter as well as the significant level have a significant effect. This effect with factor loadings is 0.25 and 0.24, as well as a significant level less than 0.05 at 0.005 and 0.004 at 95% confidence level.
Funding
There is no funding support.
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. Authors approved the content of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work. There is a declaration of no competing interests.
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We extend our gratitude to all the scientific consultants who contributed to this paper.