Designing an Entrepreneurial Marketing Model for Desert Tourism Centers (Case: Target Villages of Lut Desert)

1. Introduction
Entrepreneurship development encompasses a set of private and public policies and methods that aim to accelerate, strengthen, and sustain entrepreneurial activities. Tourism, as one of the most vital sectors of modern economies, inherently relies on entrepreneurship to innovate and thrive; therefore, creating the conditions for entrepreneurship development in tourism is an essential prerequisite for growth. Among various types of tourism, cultural tourism occupies a significant position due to its ability to merge economic, social, and cultural value creation. In recent years, several initiatives have been launched to revive and develop tourism destinations in previously neglected regions of Iran, particularly in the villages surrounding the Lut Desert located across Sistan and Baluchestan (Nosrat Abad), Kerman (Shahdad), and South Khorasan (Deh Salem). The emergence of eco-lodges and community-based tourism centers in these villages has created new opportunities for local entrepreneurship. Collaborative efforts among non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local governments, and rural communities have begun to foster tourism innovation and entrepreneurial activity. However, despite these promising attempts, the tourism sector in the region has not yet achieved sustainable prosperity. This research, therefore, seeks to design an entrepreneurial marketing model specifically tailored to tourism centers in the Lut Desert region. In doing so, it builds upon prior studies emphasizing the nexus between entrepreneurship, marketing, and destination identification within the broader scope of tourism development.
 

Methodology

This study employs a qualitative, inductive approach that seeks to conceptualize the entrepreneurial tourism marketing model as perceived by experts, entrepreneurs, local decision-makers, managers of eco-lodges, and tourism service providers operating in or around the Lut Desert. The goal is to elicit the latent mental models held by these actors and synthesize them into a comprehensive theoretical framework. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed systematically following the Grounded Theory methodology posited by Strauss and Corbin. The analysis proceeded through three coding stages—open, axial, and selective—to identify and organize themes and relationships. The paradigmatic model served as the foundation for constructing the final entrepreneurial marketing framework, enabling the integration of causal conditions, intervening variables, strategies, and outcomes into a coherent theoretical model.
 

Findings

The qualitative analysis followed the three classical stages of coding: open, axial, and selective. In the open coding stage, preliminary data conceptualization was conducted to extract hidden meanings and to classify observations into distinct conceptual categories. The axial coding stage involved selecting a central category among those generated during open coding and establishing systematic relationships between it and other associated categories. Finally, selective coding integrated these categories to form the theoretical core of the emerging model. In the sample distribution, demographic analysis showed that 70% (35 individuals) of respondents were male, with an average age of 39 years, and 30% (15 individuals) were female, with an average age of 35 years. From the collected data, 58 initial concepts were identified and subsequently clustered into 23 major categories. These categories were derived from semantic units representing the essential dimensions of entrepreneurial tourism marketing in the Lut region. The analysis identified several key factors as central components of the model, including Environmental dimensions of the tourism destination, Tourism planning and entrepreneurship, Destination-based entrepreneurship, Lived experiences, Integrated and sound management, Financial resources, Active civil society operating under good governance, Decision-making in regeneration and its impacts, and Legal, communicational, and informational factors. Together, these categories form the core variables of the conceptual model for entrepreneurial tourism marketing in desert ecotourism contexts.
 

Discussion and Conclusion

Following the development of the grounded theoretical model, a questionnaire was designed based on the extracted conceptual framework. The model was further validated using structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure the strength of relationships among its components. The analysis revealed that the coefficient of the effect of intervening variables on the entrepreneurial marketing model was 0.371, suggesting a weak and statistically insignificant influence compared with other components. In contrast, the direct effect of social partnership and the social dimension was 0.563, indicating a relatively strong impact. The destination status exerted the strongest direct influence on entrepreneurial tourism marketing (coefficient = 0.610). These results affirm that the image formed in travelers’ minds, shaped by the attractions and conditions of the destination and reinforced by social interaction, significantly affects the evolution of entrepreneurial marketing in the Lut region. In particular, community-driven ecotourism experiences—such as those found in Deh Salem, where local tourism social partnerships have emerged—play a decisive role in identifying community needs and developing local capacity to meet them. The concept of tourism experience providers refers to enterprises that package and offer integrated tourism products—such as regional cuisine, handicrafts, and souvenirs—to tourists. These providers often implement social innovation models of “package delivery”, transferring technical expertise to community stakeholders and adapting it to local conditions. This process enhances local skills, fosters knowledge creation, and strengthens entrepreneurial competencies. Accordingly, the promotion of tourism entrepreneurship in the Lut Desert region depends heavily on capacity-building for local communities, the integration of social participation mechanisms, and the linkage between destination attributes and marketing innovation. Empowering local actors through knowledge transfer and participatory management will not only enrich tourism experiences but also ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of desert ecotourism in Iran’s emerging tourism economy.