Analyzing the Effects of Tourism Development on Land Use Changes of Binaloud County’s Rural Areas

The present study is aimed to investigate the effects of tourism development on land use changes in rural areas. The development of tourism activities results in massive structural change in rural areas with natural attractions. A descriptive-analytical method is adopted by the present study. Based on the literature review, a questionnaire was formulated and completed by 356 villagers in 10 touristy villages of Binaloud county. The validity of questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, including T-test to compare the mean of indices, Pearson correlation and regression model. Also the villages were ranked by Vickor multi-criteria programming method to assess the changes occurred in their land use. Results indicated that there is a significant correlation between the presence of tourists and four components of: 1- physical changes, 2- incentives for more land use changes, 3- structural and communication changes and 4- economic changes in rural areas. The regression results revealed that a considerable part of the dependent variable (land use change) is explained by the independent variable (the tourists). Also, the results of the ranking of the studied villages in terms of the impact of land use changes on tourism indicated that three villages namely: MayanOlia, Mayansofla and Mayanvosta have experienced more land use changes than the others.