Roles and Effects of the Development of Second-Home Tourism on the Sociocultural Aspects of Rural Settlements (Case Study:Meershamsodeen Rural District of Tonekabon County)

This research examines favorable and unfavorable sociocultural outcomes associated with the development of second-home tourism in rural areas. Our study area is Meershamsodeen rural district in the central district of Tonekabon County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. The paper, practical in purpose and descriptive-analytical in method, is based on the survey. Having subjective and objective nature, research data have been collected via questionnaires, interviews and field observations and analyzed with statistical methods such as the one-sample t-test and correlation. In this regard, results obtained from studying the sociocultural consequences of second-home tourism development suggest that it has contributed substantially to good, positive influences including enhanced awareness and improved infrastructural facilities and services. It, furthermore, due to the unscientific, unplanned large scale development of second homes, low consistency between the sociocultural characteristics of the owners of second homes and the hostsociety and inefficient management, has yielded negative results which involve overcrowded villages, increased irregularities in rural areas, widespread adaption of urban lifestyles amongst rural families in the region, increased rates of illegal activities and crimes, marked difference and contrast between the owners of second homes and the host society, significant changes in the value system and behavior pattern as a result of imitating second-home tourists, considerable difficulties in buying houses and lands, raised conflicts over land ownership, problems with using facilities and services by residents in tourism seasons and reduced access to tourist attractions and recreational facilities. The intensity of the negative consequences above, according to the residents’ perceptions and viewpoints based on the Likert scale, has been varying considerably to a greater extent, giving meaningful implications in relation to the one-sample t-test.