Rural Tourism Marketing and Identification of Key Factors Affecting It with A Sustainable Development Approach (Case Study: Palangan Village in Kamyaran County)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Geomorphology, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran Part-time Researcher at Kurdistan Studies Institute, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran

3 Department of Geomorphology, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Although there are many expectations of the role of tourism in the development process of the local and rural economy, tourism in rural settlements has not played its main and key role as a tool to achieve sustainable rural development. Weak attention to the appropriate approaches of rural tourism marketing is one of the most important factors of little success and sometimes the lack of success of tourism in the process of sustainable rural development. Meanwhile, marketing is one of the important elements in the sustainable development of rural tourism. By applying tourism marketing methods, while identifying and selecting target markets, it is possible to introduce the village and its unique features, along with creating competition for the sale of local, cultural products and other services. Also, with the increase in the number of tourists in tourist destinations, he used the many economic and social benefits of tourism in a favorable way.
Palangan village, as the center of one of the exemplary tourism areas of Kurdistan province and also one of the target villages of Kurdistan province, is one of the most spectacular villages of Kurdistan province. This village, with its amazing and unique staircase architecture and beautiful and pristine natural landscape, has been registered in the country's national heritage list and has been given the titles of "Lost Paradise" and "Kurdistan Masuleh". According to the results of the last population and housing census of Kurdistan province, this village has 809 people (405 men and 404 women) in the form of 215 households. Because of the natural and human attractions of this village, thousands of domestic and foreign tourists visit this village every year. Considering the important role of marketing in the development of tourism as well as rural development, studies in this field can provide the basis for the prosperity and prosperity of tourism in the studied area. Surveys show that so far, few studies have been conducted regarding the state of rural tourism marketing and the factors affecting it, and this has received less attention from researchers. Meanwhile, rural tourism marketing is one of the essentials of sustainable tourism development. Therefore, the main questions of the current research are: What is the state of rural tourism marketing indicators separately and also the general state of tourism marketing in rural Palgangan? And what are the most important factors affecting the development of tourism marketing in Palangan village?

Materials and methods
The main purpose of the present quantitative and applied research, which was carried out with a combination of descriptive-analytical and exploratory methods, is to evaluate and measure the state of rural tourism marketing and identify the factors affecting it from the point of view of tourists. This research has been conducted as a case study in Palangan village (located in Kamyaran county). Considering the time constraints and high costs of questionnaire distribution, as well as tourists' unwillingness to cooperate with researchers, 165 questionnaires were distributed among tourists in the study area. Due to the distortion of 15 of them, the data collected from 150 tourists have been analyzed. The main research tool for data collection is a researcher-made questionnaire, which is designed in three main parts. To check the validity of the mentioned questionnaire, the opinions of tourism researchers and experts were used, and to check its reliability, a pre-test with 30 questionnaires was used. To analyze the collected data according to the main purpose of the research, one-sample t-test, frequency distribution table and exploratory factor analysis have been used.

Results
The results showed that among the 11 key indicators of rural tourism marketing, the average indicators of attractions, infrastructure, environmental situation, culture, travel cost and skilled manpower are respectively with the values of 3.54, 3.35, 3.8, 3.588, 3.381 and 3.981, more than average and The average indices of accessibility to facilities, rules and regulations and investment are at the average level respectively with values of 2.938, 2.945 and 2.937 and The average of the two indicators of promotion and training with the values of 2.491 and 2.304, respectively, has been lower than the average. The results of factor analysis showed that the most important factors affecting rural tourism marketing are: Efficient advertising and marketing (20.677 percent), attractiveness of the destination and improvement of infrastructure quality (16.807 percent), Financial support and incentives (10.33 percent), Active participation of the local community (9.014 percent) and entrepreneurship development in tourism (8.859 percent).

Conclusion
Despite the large number of domestic and foreign tourists from Palangan village, which is one of the most important tourist target villages in Kurdistan province, no study has been conducted on tourism marketing and its influencing factors in this geographical area. Dealing with this category can provide the background and platform for the development of rural tourism and through that the local community can benefit from the benefits of rural tourism. According to the results obtained in order to strengthen and develop the marketing of rural tourism in the studied area, the implementation of strategies such as Effective and efficient advertising in local media (Kamiaran city) and Kurdistan province regarding the attractions and tourism capacities of Palangan village, Formation of groups/channels specific to the development of rural tourism in various internal and external virtual networks, Holding specialized workshops to familiarize the local community with rural tourism marketing, Respecting tourists as capitals for the sustainable development of the village, Forming a staff to welcome tourists at the entrance of the village, Holding various local festivals such as fish kebab festival, Nowruz Eid, taking into account effective information about them, Launching as many tourist tours as possible and welcoming and serving them properly, providing a platform for tourists to use free internet, Construction of ecotourism residences, Considering the opinions and tastes of tourists in the design of accommodation spaces and their decoration, Improving the quality and variety of welfare and health services in accommodation places, Repair and widening of communication roads to Palangan village, Variety in the price of services and products offered to tourists, Providing discounts to tourists in various fields, All-round support of the government sector for the development of rural tourism, especially in the field of allocating loans and credits and physical infrastructure, Holding local competitions among tourists and allocating cash and non-cash prizes to the winners of the competitions, etc., Along with the development of rural tourism marketing, they can provide the basis for the sustainable development of tourism and rural development.

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