AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS AFFECTING TOURISM BRANDS IN RURAL SETTLEMENTS OF IRAN (CASE STUDY: BINALOUD COUNTY)

Abstract

Today, for a variety of reasons, communities create brands. One of the most important reason for creating tourism brands is to make a location seem attractive for tourists and encourage them to spend more time in an area and raise the residents' standards of living. In this study, the factors affecting the formation of a rural tourism brand are examined from the perspective of experts and university professors. This study is an applied research conducted in a descriptive-analytical method. A major part of the data were collected through field studies, interviews, and filling out questionnaires by 30 experts active in the area together with 42 rural managers. The findings of the study based on the results of fuzzy hierarchical analysis showed that among the three factors, the economic factors with impact coefficient of 54.6 % had the highest effect, and physical-environmental factors with the impact coefficient of 16.7% had the lowest impact on creating rural tourism brand. There was a little difference between the results acquired from the experts of the organizations and the academics about the impact of the above factors. With the aim of identifying villages suitable for creating tourism brand, we applied TOPSIS technique, and proposed Jagharq village as the most appropriate rural area for creating rural tourism brand. We also identified 10 other rural areas as capable of creating tourism brands. According to the findings, the following guidelines are recommended: to introduce and advertise certain products of the rural areas in urban areas, to pay special attention to entrepreneurship in rural areas, to provide tourism facilities in rural areas, to restore cultural elements, and to give special attention to restoration of past cultural elements, customs and traditions.