The Effects of Tourism on Sustainable Rural Livelihood (A Case of Molham-Darreh and Tarkhin-Abad Villages in Hamadan Province)

Tourism has a strong direct relationship with poverty reduction in developing countries and is still used to decrease poverty. Sustainable livelihoods framework for tourism (SLFT), as a new analytical approach in the field of rural development and poverty reduction has frequently been applied during recent years. Nowadays, the role of tourism in contributing to the development of rural areas is obvious for everyone and rural tourism as a form of tourism industry is important in rural and regional development policy and planning. This study as a survey aimed to analyze the livelihood outcomes (social, economic, environmental and sustainable institutional) of Molham-Darreh and Tarkhin-Abad tourism centers. The statistical population of the study consisted of 301 persons from rural household heads from whom 140 persons were selected as the sample group based on the Cochran formula. The main instrument for data collection was a questionnaire the validity of which was confirmed by expert professors and software experts. Also, its reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α= 0/81). In order to analyze the obtained data, the researchers used SPSS21software. The results of factor analysis showed that four intended factors including sustainable economic, social, environmental and institutional outcomes were the most important factors affecting the sustainable livelihoods of rural tourism. In fact, 50.14% of the total variance was because of these factors. It was concluded that the planning of sustainable livelihoods based on rural tourism is the effective factor in developing and improving sustainable rural tourism.