Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Fateh Habibi

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, technological progress has given people more free time and wealth to spend on their leisure activities. In fact, the second half of the twentieth century should be called the era of the tourism industry. Nowadays, there is an intense competition between different countries to attract tourists. Furthermore, as a dynamic industry having unique features, tourism now accounts for a significant part of the economic and manufacturing activities of developed and developing countries. International tourism has developed rapidly in the last two decades and today tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing industries. The tourism industry has become a major economic sector that generates foreign exchange earnings in most countries. The number of international tourists in the world will increase to 1602 million by 2020, while revenues from tourism will reach approximately US$200 billion. The world travel and tourism council (WTTC) expects  travel and tourism to continue to be one of the world’s largest industries. In 2015, the tourism industry contributed to 9.8 % of global GDP and accounted for 279 million jobs. Over the next ten years (by 2025), it is anticipated that this industry will account for 10.5% of the global GDP and 356 million jobs worldwide.
Attracting tourists is one of the pillars of the tourism industry along with the elements necessary for the host society to provide the right conditions for attracting tourists. The behavior and attitude of the host society as revealed in its interaction with tourists are essential to the growth of tourism. As a business and service activity, tourism plays an important role in the economic development of a city. In terms of tourism destinations, investigating the tourism industry is important because it informs planners and policy makers about tourism destinations and their features. In this way, the management of tourism destinations will be able to equip the target market according to tourists’ needs.
Due to the increasing arrivals of domestic and foreign tourists to Marivan, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the role of social capital of local residents in their tendency toward welcoming tourists. Over 90% of respondents had moderate to high tendency toward accepting tourists. An analytical-descriptive methodology has been applied in this study. The questionnaire contains 23 items on a 5-point Likert scale. 280 questionnaires were distributed among tourists in Marivan in 2015, from which 254 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to ensure the reliability of the research tool. The questionnaire showed a very good reliability of 0.78 percent. Descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, bivariate regression analysis) were applied to analyze the data using SPSS. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the variables of social capital (trust, cohesion and participation) and people’s education and their tendency to accept tourists. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between sex and job status of people and their tendency toward accepting tourists. Multivariate regression analysis showed that independent variables explain 13% of the dependent variable (tendency toward accepting tourists).  

Keywords

• Social Capital
• Tourism
• Tendency
• tourist arrival
• Marivan

Main Subjects

• Urban Planning