Investigating the Role of Ecolodges in Sustainable Tourism and Preservation of Local Culture (Meybod City)

1. Introduction

In recent years, ecotourism as a sustainable form of nature-oriented and experiential tourism has been favored by policy-making institutions, and ecotourism travelers prefer to experience trips that, while being close to nature, have the opportunity to get acquainted with Create the native culture of the region. Hence, ecotourism as a cultural phenomenon can create a sufficient opportunity for cultural exchange between the tourist and the host society (Karoubi et al., 2022).

The creation and development of ecotourism residences has been introduced to the world in the form of one of the small tourism businesses since 1994, and in the past few years, it has become very prosperous in Iran. The activity of these places is associated by providing various services and appropriate to the geography and culture in each region.

Considering the importance of ecotourism as a platform for sustainable development and its effects on improving people's living conditions and job creation, in the current research, the city of Meybod has been studied as one of the historical cities of Iran with religious, historical, cultural and natural attractions. This city includes many historical monuments such as Narin Castle, historical context, caravanserai, water mill, towers and aqueducts, which, due to its location on the edge of the desert, allows tourists to benefit from the attractions of the desert and it also includes desert tourism. Also, 10 ecotourism houses located in old and historical neighborhoods have been active in this city and have created jobs for some people, but the concern is that over time, due to the city's texture and compactness. urban communities, the negative effects of the presence of tourists overshadow the positive effects to a large extent; Based on this, the current research aims to investigate the role of eco-tourism residences in the city of Meybod in the development of tourism from various economic, social, and physical aspects, and specifically, evaluate the impact of these residences on the cultural dimensions of this region of Iran.



2. Research Methodology

The research method in this study is descriptive-analytical. The overall approach of the research is quantitative, and in terms of data collection methods, it is based on library data and survey data (through questionnaires). Considering the research objectives, the sampling was done from the population using a stratified method as a probable method. In this method, different classes that are influential in answering the research questions are determined as a representative part of the research population based on the researcher's judgment. In this study, two classes, ordinary people and agents, were considered. Ordinary people refer to local residents, and agents refer to employees and supervisors of ecotourism accommodations and tourism experts in Meybod city. Simple random sampling (without replacement of a specific number) was used to select samples from each class. In this method, efforts were made to select a minimum of 30 individuals in each group to benefit from the properties of the central limit theorem. Based on this, 50 local residents and 40 agents were considered. Among the agents, 13 tourism experts, 10 supervisors of ecotourism accommodations, and 17 employees of accommodations were selected.

3. Results and discussion

In line with the research objectives, various dimensions including economic, social, physical, and cultural aspects were expanded, and research variables relevant to the conditions of Meybod city were extracted.

Questionnaire questions included two parts of personal characteristics (5 questions) and specialized questions including 12 questions related to the economic dimension, 12 questions related to the physical dimension, 14 questions related to the cultural dimension and 9 questions related to the social dimension.

Statistical analysis in this research includes statistical description reports and statistical tests including goodness of fit test, T test and Pearson correlation coefficient as well as the use of regression model and decision tree classification (CART).

In the T-test, it is assumed that we have selected a sample of size n and average m from a population, and we want to know that the opinion of this statistical population regarding the mentioned dimensions is higher or lower than the average limit. Based on that, we can measure the impact. On this basis, this influence has been investigated in two ways. In the first place, the opinions of the entire statistical community, and in the next stage, the opinions of each statistical community, which includes people, experts, trustees, and employees.

According to this test, from the point of view of the statistical community, the creation of ecotourism residences has an impact on cultural, economic, social and physical dimensions, and this influence has been more on cultural dimensions.



4. Conclusion

Based on the results obtained from the correlation matrix table, it can be said that there is a weak but positive relationship between the creation of eco-lodges and the development of tourism in Maybod city, with a confidence level of 99%, which shows that with the increase in the number of ecotourism residences, We will not witness the significant development of tourism in Meybod city; This means that other factors such as transportation development, advertising, preservation and restoration of historical places are also involved in the development of tourism and should be given serious attention along with the creation of eco-tourism residences.

Finally, in order to predict the development of tourism in this city, the decision tree method was used as a data-mining tool, and the results show that the improvement of social and cultural conditions are necessary for the development of tourism in Meybod city.