The effects of tourism on the sustainable livelihood of rural households, from the perspective of the host community Case study: Oraman district (Sarovabad city)

Rural tourism is one of the important economic and profitable activities that can have significant effects on the host society from the economic, social, cultural, environmental and physical dimensions. In this research, the effects of tourism on the sustainable livelihood of rural households in Oraman section of Sarvabad city have been investigated. In terms of purpose, this research is practical and in terms of data collection, it is a combination of survey documentary method. The statistical population of this research consists of the heads of households in 4 villages of Oraman district (Oraman Takht, Selin, Belbar and Kamale), which have the largest volume of tourists, and their number is equal to 1270 households. The sample size was obtained using the modified Cochran formula of 250 samples, the samples were selected by stratified and random sampling based on the population of each village. The tool of data collection in this research is a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was obtained using Cronbach's alpha (0.84). To investigate the impact of tourism on sustainable livelihoods, one-sample t-tests, analysis of variance, regression analysis, and path analysis were used. The findings of this research using statistical tests show that tourism has a positive effect on the human, social, physical, natural and financial dimensions of the villagers based on the one-sample t-test. Analysis of variance showed that there is a significant difference between different dimensions of sustainable livelihood. Regression analysis showed that all dimensions of sustainable livelihood (human, social, natural, physical, financial dimensions) have a significant impact on the sustainable livelihood of villagers. Also, the result based on the path analysis indicates that all aspects have a direct and indirect impact on sustainable rural livelihoods, in general, tourism has a positive impact on the sustainable livelihoods of the villagers of Oraman Takht.