تبیین ادراکات جامعه محلی از اثرات رشد و توسعه گردشگری (مطالعه موردی: روستای جهانی میمند)

Extended Abstract

Introduction

In recent years, tourism development has emerged as a key strategy for empowering local communities and improving the quality of life in rural areas. Alongside advancements in technology and infrastructure, access to remote and less-developed settlements—including rural areas—has significantly increased, providing new livelihood and development opportunities. In this context, the active participation of local communities is regarded as a fundamental principle of sustainable tourism development by both scholars and policymakers. Local residents are not only service providers and cultural hosts, but their perceptions and attitudes toward tourism play a critical role in the success or failure of development plans. In other words, any attempt to develop tourism without a thorough understanding of the host community’s perceptions is prone to failure. Furthermore, tourism—whether beneficial or problematic—can directly or indirectly affect local lifestyles, value systems, and behavioral patterns. Therefore, understanding residents’ attitudes toward tourism is a fundamental step toward achieving sustainable tourism development. Several studies have addressed the factors influencing local residents’ perceptions of tourism, highlighting economic benefits, quality of life, interaction with tourists, place attachment, local control over tourism processes, and cultural identity as key elements. Meymand, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage site and one of the oldest inhabited troglodyte settlements, represents a unique rural destination in Iran. Its distinctive morphology, rich historical background, and unique cultural features have made it a major tourism attraction. However, tourism development in such a sensitive context requires a deep understanding of how local people perceive the economic, sociocultural, environmental, and physical-spatial consequences of tourism growth. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to examine local residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism development in the World Heritage village of Meymand. The research focuses on four key dimensions: economic, sociocultural, environmental, and physical impacts of tourism from the perspective of the local community.

Methodology

This study employs a descriptive-analytical approach and is categorized as applied research. Philosophically, the research follows a positivist paradigm, and the strategy adopted is survey-based. The research method is quantitative, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The statistical population consists of local residents, tourism stakeholders, guides, and tourism professionals in the World Heritage village of Meymand, located in Shahr-e Babak County, Kerman Province, Iran. Given the limited number of knowledgeable respondents, a full enumeration method was applied, resulting in 30 completed questionnaires. The conceptual model of the study considers “destination tourism features” as a higher-order construct composed of five sub-dimensions: Local people’s compatibility with tourists (11 items), Economic capacity of tourism (5 items), Tourists’ sense of responsibility (5 items), Positive impacts of tourism (5 items), and Negative impacts of tourism (36 items). In addition, two other constructs were examined as final dependent variables: Local community satisfaction (6 items), and Local community commitment (6 items). Data were analyzed using Smart-PLS structural equation modeling software, which allowed for the assessment of both measurement and structural models. The geographical context of this study is the historical village of Meymand, located at an altitude of 2220 meters above sea level, situated on the southern slope of the extinct Massahim volcano. The village is carved into volcanic tuff rocks, forming a unique troglodytic settlement with about 340 hand-dug residential units arranged in five tiers. These rock dwellings are resistant to fire, wind, and rain, and they maintain stable internal temperatures. Meymand’s landscape is considered a cultural heritage site, embodying a millennia-old human-nature interaction system, characterized by a three-stage seasonal migration pattern. The winter settlement comprises hand-dug “Kiches” (residential caves), while the summer pastures and spring/autumn stopovers occupy distinct ecological zones, reflecting adaptive architecture and livelihood strategies. Communal structures such as mosques, bathhouses, and Husayniyyahs are also present in this unique settlement. This integrated and sustainable interaction with nature underscores the necessity of understanding local perceptions of tourism development, especially given the increasing volume of tourist arrivals and the region’s distinctive cultural and physical setting.

Findings

Analysis of the data revealed that the majority of respondents were male and most fell within the 20–30 age group. Educationally, the highest frequency belonged to individuals holding a bachelor's degree, suggesting that the sample comprised a relatively young and educated segment of the local population. The descriptive analysis of responses indicated that the mean scores for most items were above 3, reflecting a general agreement among residents with the proposed tourism-related impacts. Furthermore, skewness and kurtosis values confirmed that the data were normally distributed and suitable for subsequent modeling procedures.In the measurement model assessment, all factor loadings exceeded 0.5, and both Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability values surpassed the threshold of 0.7, confirming the internal consistency and reliability of the instrument. The average variance extracted (AVE) for most constructs was also above 0.5, supporting convergent validity. Discriminant validity, evaluated using the Fornell-Larcker criterion, indicated that all constructs were clearly distinct from one another. Moving to the structural model stage, path coefficients and t-values were analyzed to evaluate the relationships among research variables. The findings showed that local residents’ perceptions of the economic impacts of tourism (with a significant path coefficient and t-value above 1.96) had a direct influence on their acceptance of tourism development. Likewise, social and cultural effects exhibited a positive and significant relationship with overall attitudes toward tourism growth. In contrast, environmental impacts, despite having adequate factor loadings, did not demonstrate a statistically significant influence on final perceptions. Overall, the structural model exhibited good fit, and the results strongly supported the research hypotheses.

Discussion and conclusion

The results indicate that local perceptions of tourism development in Meymand are a mixture of positive and negative viewpoints. While residents recognize the economic benefits and development opportunities brought by tourism, they are also aware of its potential threats to the cultural, social, and environmental fabric of the village. Therefore, tourism planning in Meymand must be culturally and environmentally sensitive, and should actively involve the local community. Establishing communication mechanisms between planners, authorities, and residents, educating locals on effective interaction with tourists, and promoting sustainable use of resources are among the recommended strategies for achieving balanced and sustainable tourism development. Overall, this study underscores the importance of understanding host community perceptions as a basis for policymaking and destination management in rural tourism—particularly in areas with World Heritage status.