Tourism Management Studies

Abstract The relationship between tourism and agriculture has been a challenging liaison in the tourism development literature. The state of relationship between these two important industries varies through a two-poled spectrum in which conflict is on one end and growth on the other. Given that most tourism destinations of the world are faced with rapid changes, adjusting the relationship between the two industries to move from a conflicting stance into a compatible situation, is a challenge for spatial management and planning. Coastal areas of Caspian Sea are concurrently agricultural and touristic destinations. With the increasing changes of the area in the recent decades, the relationship quality between the two sectors has become a critical issue in planning and regional development. Being this a matter of great concern in the region, this paper aims to investigate the entity of relationship between tourism and agriculture, and to identify the factors affecting the manner of this relationship, and finally to suggest some solutions. A survey analysis was conducted upon a statistical population consisting of farmers, administrations, real estate agents, and lawyers from two different areas: mountainous region of Chalous and plain lands of Nowshahr County. Results indicated that the relationship between stated industries is of the winner-loser type, being conflicting and destructive; as a matter of weaknesses in land-use management mechanisms, grave weaknesses in agriculture sector, mushrooming of real-estate agencies all around the area, and farmers’ attitudes regarding welfare—not expecting it to be achieved by way of agriculture. Finally the followings are suggested: Effective support of strategic agricultural products by government, reformation of land laws and regulations, establishing coherent executive and use-management mechanisms, and formulation of a structural-strategic plan for the purpose of spatial development in the region

Abstract Operations management has attracted extensive research attention during the recent years, yet there is a dearth of research that examines the taxonomy of service operations strategies. Regarding the pivotal role of the tourism industry in the economic growth of many countries and unique touristic characteristics of Mashhad city in Iran, the importance and necessity of such researches are indisputable. The aim of this study is to make taxonomy of service operations strategies in Mashhad’s hotels and apartment hotels, to be a pioneering research in Iran. The sample group consists of 80 hotels and 65 apartment hotels. The taxonomy presented contributes to the development and enhancement of operations management theory, and demonstrates the current crucial place and importance of the nine structural and infrastructural service operations strategic decisions in Iran’s hotel industry. This study uses a k-mean cluster analysis to develop a classification based on 9 service operations strategy dimensions. The effectiveness of the classification scheme is tested by multiple discriminant analysis. Four strategic clusters were identified, each tending to emphasize on a different dimension. The outcomes of this research were proved to be different from those of others.

Abstract In tourism, like any other service industry, the people offering service are a constituent part of the product, and their expertise, theoretical knowledge, and job skills undeniably affect the quality of services. Hence, Composition and implementation of human resource development strategies is of a great importance and education/training, therein, plays a major part. Higher education, compared to other educational levels, is of greater significance for being in charge of training expert human resources to create knowledge and transfer it to the lower levels. Among the component indices of higher education system, the scientific criteria, including learning factors, teaching factors, and learning conditions and facilities, correlate directly with the quality of academic courses. In order to explore the state of these criteria in tourism academic courses, two models are used: horizontal model (based on the scientific nature of courses) and vertical model (based on the education level and hierarchy). Having investigated the indices of scientific system of tourism education based on these two models, it allows ascertaining the efficiency of education system in terms of form and content. This research focuses on identification of the model and quality of scientific and learning criteria of tourism in Iran’s higher education, utilizing a comparative-longitudinal research method. A comparative study was also performed between Iran and Turkey, using interviews and secondary data analysis. Results indicate that although the number of students and tourism education centers has increased dramatically in Iran, the development model has not conformed to the selected horizontal and vertical models of the research in terms of form and content. In addition, serious shortcomings seem to exist in learning facilities and conditions of all educational courses.

Abstract In the recent years, tourism has been recognized as one of the prominent strategies of rural development and poverty reduction especially in developing countries, and has been broadly attended by policy makers and practitioners. However, tourism has been an object of severe criticism by researchers and practitioners of rural development for being the focus of attentions in excessive and partial ways, lacking roots in development theories. With a critical approach, this research aims to investigate the capitals of Zeeyarat villagers and to evaluate the tourism impacts on the sustainable livelihood development in Zeeyarat village – in Gorgan County, Golestan province. This research is descriptive-analytical in nature using a case study method to investigate the impacts of tourism on the village development. The Time frame of the research is November 2010 until august 2011. Data are derived through various sources such as: questionnaire-based household survey, interviews, observations and secondary sources. Conducting the survey, questionnaires were distributed among 150 rural families which were selected by random sampling from among the total of 575 village households in 2011. Semi-structured interviews were also carried out with 18 individuals. Also two PRA sessions were held in order to obtain more detailed perspectives on tourism experiences in the village and its associated transformations, being a complement to the information obtained from household survey. Afterwards, Content analysis was adopted to analyze the collected data. Predetermined categories and themes employed in the analysis were based on the SLFT framework. In addition, the quantitative data from the questionnaire-survey (related to the livelihoods outcomes or sustainability) were analyzed using the SPSS software version 17.

Abstract Programs related to recreation and tourism is considered economic, social and cultural phenomena. Some experts conceive tourism as a driving force for the economic development of countries. In this regard, adopting appropriate solutions to increase feelings of trust and security within tourists visiting a region is crucial in attracting tourists. The present research is descriptive-correlation type and offers a model capturing the relationship between social capital and the tourist boom in the Caspian Sea coastal areas. The statistical population of the research involves all the native inhabitants of the Caspian Sea and the tourists who visited the place, out of whom 229 were randomly selected for the sample. Collecting the data a researcher-made questionnaire was employed. In the data analysis phase, structural equations modeling technique was used for investigating the relationship between social capital and attraction of tourists. Findings confirm the proposed conceptual model depicting that social capital directly affects the attraction of tourists, and has a prominent impact on the subjective and objective security of tourists.

Abstract This study aims to estimate the employment multipliers of the various sectors related to tourism industry. In this regard,the amount of direct, indirect, and induced jobs associated with tourism sectors were measured. Also, using the input-output table of 1380 of Iran’s economy,the first and second employment multipliers were calculated.Results revealed that "wholesale and retail sales sector" with a normal multiplier of 0.002 and multiplier ratio of 15.15 obtains the first rank in creating jobs in Iran’s economy.

Abstract The relationship between tourism and agriculture has been a challenging liaison in the tourism development literature. The state of relationship between these two important industries varies through a two-poled spectrum in which conflict is on one end and growth on the other. Given that most tourism destinations of the world are faced with rapid changes, adjusting the relationship between the two industries to move from a conflicting stance into a compatible situation, is a challenge for spatial management and planning. Coastal areas of Caspian Sea are concurrently agricultural and touristic destinations. With the increasing changes of the area in the recent decades, the relationship quality between the two sectors has become a critical issue in planning and regional development. Being this a matter of great concern in the region, this paper aims to investigate the entity of relationship between tourism and agriculture, and to identify the factors affecting the manner of this relationship, and finally to suggest some solutions. A survey analysis was conducted upon a statistical population consisting of farmers, administrations, real estate agents, and lawyers from two different areas: mountainous region of Chalous and plain lands of Nowshahr County. Results indicated that  the  relationship  between stated  industries  is  of  the winner-loser type, being conflicting and destructive; as a matter of weaknesses in land-use management mechanisms, grave weaknesses in agriculture sector, mushrooming of real-estate agencies all around the area, and farmers’ attitudes regarding welfare—not expecting it to be achieved by way of agriculture. Finally the followings are suggested: Effective support of strategic agricultural products by government, reformation of land laws and regulations, establishing coherent  executive  and  use-management  mechanisms,  and formulation of a structural-strategic plan for the purpose of spatial development in the region.