Designing and validating a model for identifying obstacles to the development of ecotourism

Introduction

Despite having many natural attractions, the country's ecotourism has faced various problems and obstacles in attracting nature tourists, which has prevented its expansion. As stated, ecotourism does not have a very suitable position in the tourism industry of our country, if infrastructure is provided and nature lovers are attracted, it is possible to get good job and income opportunities while promoting this industry. Among the 31 provinces of Iran, Lorestan province has very high capacities for the development of ecotourism due to its location in the middle Zagros mountains, its pristine and diverse nature, mountainous and dense forest areas, beautiful waterfalls, roaring rivers, wetlands and spectacular caves. Unfortunately, no special attention has been paid to it so far. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to identify the obstacles to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province. In fact, the main question of this research is, what are the obstacles and challenges for the development of ecotourism in this province?

Methodology

In terms of the goal, the current research was part of developmental research, and in terms of the method of gathering findings, it was part of mixed (qualitative-quantitative) research. In the qualitative part, thematic analysis method was used to identify the obstacles to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province, and in the quantitative part, structural equation modeling was used to validate the model obtained from the quantitative method.

The statistical population included experts in the field of ecotourism in the qualitative part and nature and ecotourism tourists in the quantitative part. In the qualitative section, 15 people were selected using the purposeful snowball sampling method, and in the quantitative section, 320 people were selected as samples using the random sampling method. The tools for collecting findings in the qualitative part include semi-structured interviews and in the quantitative part, researcher-made questionnaires.

The study area, the green province of Lorestan, was chosen because it has a high potential to attract ecotourism opportunities in the country. Lorestan province is also a talented and ideal region for the development of ecotourism in terms of being located in the middle Zagros mountains. Due to the diversity of climatic and biological conditions (including flora and fauna), geotourism potentials, including geological resources, geomorphology, hydrogeology, karst landscapes, and water capacities, have great capabilities for the development of ecotourism.



Results and discussion

In the qualitative section, in the open coding stage, 238 codes were identified under the title of basic themes. In the second stage of these codes, there are 19 organizer themes including: weak environmental awareness, weak environmental knowledge, weak environmental literacy, weak tourism education system, weak tourism research system, weak practical environmental knowledge, high cost of tourism, lack of marketing. International, unfavorable financial infrastructure, politicization of the ecotourism industry, social barriers, inappropriate image of the country at the international level, weak international communication, weak environmental ethics, weak environmental beliefs, poor organization of historical centers, weakness in transportation lines, lack of Accommodation units and weakness in technological infrastructure were reduced and finally 6 main themes were identified under the titles of obstacles to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province. These obstacles include environmental challenges, educational challenges, economic challenges, social and political challenges, cultural challenges and structural challenges and exploitation of technology. In order to better understand these challenges, the results are presented in schematic number (2). In the quantitative part, the results show that the environmental barriers component is 19.77, the educational challenges component is 27.92, the social and political challenges component is 10.29, the economic challenges component is 6.75, the structural and technological challenges component is 25.15, the cultural challenges component is 17.33, predict the obstacles of ecotourism in Lorestan province.



Conclusion

The results of the research in the open coding stage numbered 238 basic themes, in the central coding stage number of 19 organizing themes and in the selective coding stage into 6 main themes including environmental challenges, educational challenges, economic challenges, social and political challenges, cultural challenges and The structural challenges and exploitation of technology were reduced under the title of obstacles to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province. According to the research results, one of the obstacles of ecotourism in Lorestan province was environmental challenges. In order to confirm the results of this part of the research, it can be said that the lack of environmental awareness and knowledge and the improper use of natural resources and the abuse of natural resources by natural and legal persons and even government bodies have caused significant damage to wealth, resources and assets. The natural resources of the country, which are the main and sustainable sources of ecotourism, should be imported. The results showed that another obstacle to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province is educational challenges. The discussion of education and promoting the understanding of the real value of natural resources and interaction with the local community and respect for the culture of the host community are essential educational and scientific discussions in ecotourism. Another challenge and obstacle to the development of ecotourism in Lorestan province is economic challenges. This challenge is caused by the combination of obstacles such as the politicization of the ecotourism industry, social obstacles, the inappropriate image of the country at the international level, and the weakness of international communication. In order to explain this research finding, it can be claimed that policy-making in the formulation and management of comprehensive ecotourism plans for sustainable development should be done by specialists and experts in environmental, social, tourism, and tourism sciences and under the direct supervision of governments, and so far this issue has been The general policies of Lorestan province tourism system have not been considered. Compilation of comprehensive tourism programs is basically done in three short-term, medium-term and long-term time frames and taking into account the natural and cultural capacities of each geographical region.