Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran
Abstract
Tourism is one of the flexible and dynamic industries that has different dimensions and types. Green tourism is one of the most important types that many countries pay special attention to today. One of the dimensions that can be fruitful in the direction of green tourism is the field of environmental policy-making. This scientific and executive field, which aligns with environmental protection measures and activities, can create favourable consequences for communities. This study's main purpose is to formulate the environmental policy-making desired pattern in the context of green tourism, which uses a mixed-method to investigate the issue. The approach used in this method is a partially mixed sequential dominant status design approach that is done in three phases: qualitative-qualitative-quantitative. In this research, three methods of "focus group-grounded theory-survey" have been used to formulate and confirm the model, respectively. The main tool used in the qualitative phase is the interview. In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was extracted relevant information and data from 13 experts in the qualitative phase and 8. According to the research findings, about 17 main indicators were identified, which were considered the pattern's main components. According to the results of the quantitative section, among the studied indicators, the index "Communications and interactions of responsible institutions" has the highest score among the indicators, which shows the importance of this category in the resulting pattern. From the present study results, we can point to the important role of "communications and interactive of responsible institutions", which requires the development of more precise environmental policies to support green tourism to achieve other goals, sustainable tourism development.
Introduction
In recent times, tourism and travel have been considered flexible, dynamic and growing industries. Many studies show that the tourism industry contributes significantly to the economic growth and development of tourism-led economies. On the other hand, many thinkers believe that tourism achieves economic growth and development at the cost of pollution and environmental degradation. Numerous factors have led to a more precise policy for the tourism industry with the aim of sustainable tourism development. Therefore, the development of a desirable pattern that is considered at both conceptual levels of "environmental policies" and "green tourism" can consider a wide range of measures to improve and develop green tourism. While supporting and creating green tourism, this pattern will make it possible to create various pollution control projects and schemes with the help of environmental policies. For this purpose, it is necessary to design a desirable pattern to get out of the issues to be effective in this regard. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop a pattern of environmental policy-making in the context of green tourism.
Materials and Methods
The general design of the methodology in this research is applied according to the purpose, its mixed method. For further explanation, the research design is a partially mixed sequential dominant status design that is done in three phases qualitative-qualitative-quantitative. In this design, first qualitative and then quantitative data are collected and analyzed. Priority is usually given to the qualitative phase, and quantitative data reinforces the qualitative data. In this research, three "focus group-grounded theory-survey" methods have been used. In the qualitative part, the thematic axes were first extracted using the focus group method. Then, in the next step, using tools such as semi-structured interviews, the relevant codes were obtained, and the codes were transformed into a pattern by the grounded theory method. Then the resulting pattern was examined by experts, and to assess its components, its validity was announced.
In summary, the thematic axes extracted from the focus group method were used as a criterion for orientation. The focus of the interviews was based on the grounded theory method. Then, through the steps of the grounded theory method, the desired pattern was extracted and calculated. After formulating the pattern, in the third phase - the quantitative phase of the research - the components and categories of the pattern are examined by experts; for evaluating its components, its validity is announced.
Discussion and Results
In the first phase, i.e. the focus group method that was done online, items such as Macro "socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental" environment; institutional arrangements of relationships and interactions; inter-organizational coordination structures; interest groups and influential in formulating and implementing tourism policies; New and Innovative Solutions in Creating Green Tourism; Symmetry of Green Tourism and Environmental Executive Projects; Interactive Policy Making in Green Tourism "were extracted as thematic axes. In the second phase - in the grounded theory method of the foundation - the approach of Strauss and Corbin was used that the propositions were counted in three types of coding "open, axial and selective".
Conclusions
Green tourism operators face various factors in maintaining green tourism assets in the future. To manage these factors, planners, policy-makers and tourism managers must prescribe and adopt sustainable green policies and strategies, improve the quality and quantity of relevant policies, and consider the principles and practices of sustainable development to improve green tourism. These results require the development of more precise policies for the tourism industry, which should be given special attention to sustainable tourism development and support for green tourism. In the following, the relevant suggestions are presented
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