Study of the Role of Perceived Administrative Barriers in the Process of Religious Tourism Development based on the Social Participation of Tourism Beneficiaries Case Study: Mashhad City

Extended Abstract

Introduction

The importance of the tourism industry and its role in economic, cultural and social growth and development has caused local, regional and national managers and planners all over the world to try and plan for its expansion. Therefore, developing countries have always paid particular attention to the development of tourism. Iran also has a good perspective in this field, especially in the field of religious tourism, due to its rich history of civilization and culture and significant tourism capacities. However, despite the existence of about nine thousand sacred religious places in the country, religious tourism in Iran still lacks a specialized and centralized organization. Among the factors influencing the development of religious tourism, besides having efficient management and a suitable platform, is the management of perceptions and the participation of local and neighboring stakeholders in tourism development programs. In fact, the positive perception of local stakeholders about the effects of tourism can be one of the obvious factors influencing the sustainability of tourism development. Because the perceptions of local stakeholders, including the perceived administrative barriers, are related to how they react to the disturbances caused by the rapid development of tourism. In addition, the development of religious tourism will not be achieved without the participation and support of local and neighboring stakeholders. Therefore, in this research, the role of perceived administrative barriers in the process of religious tourism development has been studied based on the social participation of tourism beneficiaries in Mashhad city.



Methodology

This research is applied and quantitative in terms of purpose and nature, respectively. In addition, in terms of data collection, the current research is a descriptive type that was conducted in the field. The statistical population of the research includes all the local stakeholders of tourism in Mashhad city, including cultural and religious activists, hoteliers, businessmen, and transport industry activists in the first half of 2022, and the statistical sample is 385 of them, using the available sampling method are selected. In this research, library and field methods were used to collect information. The research questionnaire consists of two main parts. In the first part, the demographic information of the statistical sample and in the second part, the questions related to the research variables, including perceived managerial obstacles in the tourism community (5 questions), social participation of tourism beneficiaries (3 questions), and support of tourism beneficiaries. Religious (3 questions) is presented based on related research, especially the research of Wang et al. (2021). The validity of the questionnaire has been checked and confirmed using the methods of content validity and construct validity and its reliability using the three methods of Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and reliability of indicators. In order to analyze data and test hypotheses, inferential statistics tests, including the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in SPSS software and the partial least squares method in PLS software, have been used.



Results and discussion

In this research, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to examine the type of data distribution related to the research sample. The results of this test showed that the data related to the research variables do not have a normal distribution. Therefore, due to the non-normality of the data, SmartPLS 3 structural equation software was exerted to analyze the data. The partial least squares method was used to check the research hypotheses and evaluate the structural model. Based on the analysis, the significant numbers related to the parameters of the model, including the factor loading and its errors, are significant. Because their significant number is greater than the absolute value of 1.96, the significant relationship between the variables of the model is confirmed. Also, examining the coefficients of the structural path showed that the coefficient of influence of the variable of social participation of tourism beneficiaries on the support of tourism beneficiaries is 0.623. The positive value of this number indicates the direct effect of the variable of social participation of tourism beneficiaries on the support of the neighbors for the development of religious tourism in Mashhad. In addition, the coefficient of influence of the variable of social participation of tourism beneficiaries on perceived administrative barriers in the tourism community is -0.382, and the negative value of this value indicates the inverse effect of the variable of social participation of tourism beneficiaries on perceived administrative barriers in the tourism community. In addition, the coefficient of influence of the perceived administrative barriers variable in the tourism community on the support of tourism beneficiaries is -0.411, and due to the negativity of this coefficient, the variable of perceived administrative barriers has an inverse effect on support of the neighbors for the development of religious tourism in Mashhad. Therefore, the research hypotheses are accepted.



Conclusion

The results of the data analysis showed that the social participation of tourism beneficiaries has a positive and significant effect on the support of neighbors for the development of religious tourism in Mashhad and a negative and significant effect on their perceived administrative barriers. In addition, the perceived administrative barriers have a negative and significant effect on neighbors' support for the development of religious tourism in Mashhad. Besides, based on the statistical analysis, perceived administrative barriers in the tourism community have a mediating effect between the social participation of the tourism beneficiaries and the support of the neighbors for the development of religious tourism in Mashhad. The findings of the research are in harmony with the results of related studies and confirm them. Therefore, managers and officials of tourism and activists of this area in Mashhad city should pay special attention to these factors and, according to the status of these variables and the relationship between them, more suitable strategies and policies in order to improve the quality and quantity of religious tourism to attract more tourists and develop religious tourism, present and implement, which can ultimately affect the sustainable development of tourism in this region.